Bad pixels of mind
by icys
Summary: "Well, their heads are mushrooms, and I bet zombies are their relatives." In the cruel world, two brothers need to learn how to stay alive. Leo/Mikey. Last of Us AU.
1. Spring: Chapter 1

Sometimes life was not fair. But you had to accept whatever life threw at you. You couldn't be the same person you were before after facing some terrible events. Especially if that event was about seeing the world destroyed. For Michelangelo, there was one person that changed after they came back from space, and he was not sure it was a good or bad change.

In space, Leo was depressed, a lot, he was always brooding. And he was angry, not like Raph-angry, just being very angry. And… alone.

Mikey recognized this version of Leo, he already met one in Northampton.

Even if Leo kept his calm exterior, he knew there was something behind those blue eyes ready to emerge.

Maybe there was nothing. Maybe Mikey worried too much. But a voice in his head kept telling him to watch out. Of course, usually he tried to untangle problems between them with his own way. Water balloons worked, right? He would try anything to keep balance in the family. But now he didn't know what to do. They got Master Splinter back and their home, what could possibly trouble his brother now?

 _Sometimes it feels like I don't know my big brother at all._

Okay, they hung out, they laughed together, and they fought together. But the gap between the oldest and youngest was too large, and they didn't have similar interests. Leo loved training to sharpen his skills, while Mikey preferred playing around with his natural-born talents. Wait, they had one! He remembered the first time they found Space Heroes videos. But that was about it…

He didn't like how his big brother grew distant from others. If it kept going, he knew Leo would do something stupid again like his solo act last time.

 _Why couldn't he trust us? You don't have to do everything by yourself, you have us too._

They were back to Earth together. Everything was fixed. But somehow it still didn't feel right. It would be nice if they have a trip just two of them where they didn't have to worry about pinky brain aliens or Triceraceeps. Leo and he needed some bonding time.

 _I wish I have just a nice break to hang out with my bro once in awhile._

His wish had been fulfilled, but not exactly what he imagined. To be honest, it was completely opposite of what he wished for.

* * *

 **Warning:** For those who don't play Last of Us, there will be some violence, blood, guns, gore, suicide, and cannibalism. But I'm not a big fan of those things. I'll write as soft as possible without deteriorating the story.

 **Author's** **note:** Hi! I never thought I'd become an author. I've read through the TMNT fandom and I still didn't find a single fanfic in Last of Us AU. I'm a reader, I read a thousand of fanfic but never think I can write one. This time I really want to read this AU so much so I decided to write it. I have to say, I'm not a native speaker. This is one particular reason why I didn't write, I don't have much confidence in my writing skill so please bear with me. Or you can help me by pointing out grammatical errors. I would appreciate your help!

2003/2012 stuff. Turtle's physical builds are from 2012, and some ideas are from 2003. There will be OCs but only small roles, most of them are from Last of Us. The reason why I didn't put it in crossover because it will heavily focus on turtles, not human. No pairing, just brotherly moment.

I also want to read some TMNT fanfic based on Life is Strange AU as well. Please! Someone, please!


	2. Spring: Chapter 2

Leo used a spyglass to count a number of Kraang droids on the street. Only ten. They could finish them without breaking a sweat. But something was not right. Kraang was back into action again right after the world was saved as if they were in a rush to finish the project before someone knew it.

He gave the spyglass to Donnie who was already in science-y mode "Last time they used that kind of portal to transport the Kraanthatrogons from Dimension X. I wonder what they're going to send to our world this time."

"That machine looks like a really big blender." Leo assumed.

"Blender? Hmm, I'm positive that the circle base is the portal they used last time. Except it was used _horizontally_ , not _vertically_ like this. But I'm not sure about the blender. Wait, is that… ingredients? Fragments of power cell and mutagen?" Donnie gasped when Kraang droids threw them into the large blender glass jug and turned on a switch. The jug began to spin making a bizarre noise.

"Wow, they literally combine them to create a _new_ portal." Donnie made a dreamy voice. Leo sighed, not sharing the enthusiasm.

"Donnie, stop that. We need to destroy that thing anyway. So let's get it over with," Raph grunted. "I can't believe you still need more nerd stuff in life when you had already been in _space_."

"Curiosity is important, Raph. Never stop learning."

"Yeah, whatever."

Donnie made a disappointed sound but he grabbed bo staff out anyway, ready to attack.

Mikey was quiet, but not because he focused on the mission tonight, it was because he was thinking about how to convince his big brother to go on a vacation. He was not sure whether to ask Donnie and Raph to come too. If they came, it would be easy to persuade Leo to come with them. They all deserved a nice trip to clear their minds after all.

Especially Leo, he noticed that his big brother became more distant than ever. After they were back from space, Leo's mind was occupied with million things that pushed him away from everyone. Sure, he still acted like their big brother. But when Leo was alone in dojo or in the kitchen, Mikey noticed that his mind was a mile away from the lair again. It was impossible for Mikey to know what his brother thinking. Okay, he would admit there was still some unresolved problems such as recusing Miwa, but couldn't they be grateful for what they have now? Raph once said he didn't know what was in Mikey's head, but Mikey was clueless about what was inside their heads too.

 _I bet Leo's mind is somewhere between Miwa and those jurassic aliens. He thinks too much. And they said they never understand me. I'll let them know I don't think_ _ **that**_ _much. We only have one brain so we have to take a good care of it. Just don't dump everything in there! It's too fragile! That's why my mind is about pizza and Ice cream kitty only!_

He was concerned about his brother because he didn't want to lose sight of him again. Last time he turned away for two seconds and Leo almost died in space!

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Mikey blinked. He just realized that the argument was over and now they were looking at him.

"I didn't hear you at all. Are you feeling alright?"

"Umm, yeah," I guess.

When they were back home tonight, he needed to come up with that long-overdue vacation plan. They were back to Earth safely and they haven't celebrated yet. He had to look for the nice place to visit. _Oooh! I want to visit that wax museum. Can I ask them to come too?_

Unfortunately, his brother knew his mind was wandering somewhere else again so he got a nudge in his plastron.

"Tell me you didn't space out and listened to our plan."

"Umm, what was it again?"

Leo gave him a disapproving look, and he just returned him a sheepish smile.

 _After vacation,_ he thought, _everything was going to be the same after nice, long vacation._

* * *

The Kraang in black suits threw more mutagen into the glass jug. The usual pink color of power cell and bright turquoise color of mutagen were mixed, changing slowly into sickeningly purple.

"The portal which is created by Kraang to the place where Kraang is supposed to retrieve more spore sample is now finished," Kraang announced. "Kraang. Pour the mixture into the tanks which are prepared by Kraang to contain the mixture."

"Greeting, gentlemen! Long time no see. Do you miss me?"

Every Kraang droids stopped the actions and pointed the guns at Mikey. Of course, this was part of the plan. He should have known he was a bait, or a distraction, that was a term Leo used for him. Well, at least he knew he was the expert in this particular area.

"That is a turtle who called himself Michelangelo which is the enemy of the Kraang."

"Yup, that's me! Don't ever forget it. So, do you remember anyone else?"

He smirked, and pointed his index behind them. One Kraang droid turned to see and got a shuriken in his face. Raph was the first one to tangle the closest droid, Leo followed him shortly. And all hell broke loose.

Mikey joined the chaos. It was like a typical day on Earth where they trashed the droids. He thought they were in spaces too long. Everything was going according to the plan. Donnie already stopped the machine- _Blender, I think_ -and installed a bomb to destroy it. After Blender was destroyed, they would get back home and have some pizza. _Ah… awesome day._

"I want to know what it is. If it's really a portal then where it leads to…" He heard Donnie talking to himself, he usually did that when he was in the lab. If Donnie decided to create this blender at home, he would gladly to be the first volunteer. But he didn't Master Splinter would allow it, unless Donnie told him it was just a blender. _Man, I miss normal life in the lair._

Mikey delivered a strike to Kraang's abdomen and kicked him hard enough he flew to hit the large glass jug. That was when the jug swayed dangerously, spilling the purple liquid on the ground.

 _Oops?_

Raph did a backflip kick to another droid sending him into the liquid. Instead of splattering sound, the droid was absorbed and disappeared within a second.

 _What?_

"What the **shell** was that!?" Apparently Raph was confused as well. Even Mikey knew the liquid wasn't supposed to do that.

Mikey flinched when he heard a loud crashing sound, the questionably purple liquid was now everywhere on the ground.

"Be careful! It's the liquid portal!" Donnie yelled somewhere behind him.

Mikey jumped to the ladder and climbed up quickly. He threw shurikens at the Kraang to buy his brother a time to escape. Everything happened so fast. Leo was still on the ground beating more droids. One of injured Kraang droid got behind him and shot Leo's back. The impact sent him into the purple fluid.

" **Leo!?** "

He swiftly bound the Kusarigama chain to the ladder and jumped after Leo, reaching out to grab him. Leo's eyes widened when he saw Mikey coming after him.

" _Mikey!?_ Don't!"

 _Huh? Why does Leo try to stop me? I'm trying to help him!_

"Come on, I got this," Mikey spun his legs so he could go faster, or so he thought. "Hiyaaah! Turtle speeding bullet. Not bad, huh?"

Leo's shocked face made him frown. Suddenly the background changed from the dark ground with purple liquid to the sight of the rooftop.

"Huh...?"

The bright sunlight hit his face. He was now falling from the sky. Mikey just realized he was already on the other side of the portal.

He felt the chain on Kusarigama sagging. Panicked, Mikey turned to see what had happened. The portal was floating in the sky but getting smaller and smaller. The section of ladder his blade was bounded on was broken, including the platform and handrail. All of them were falling on the top of him. Their lifeline was utterly broken.

There was still a chance. He won't give up, not yet. They still could go back if he could grab Leo and swung his chain through the portal in time. But the portal was already too small for a turtle to get through. But if it was his chain, he could still make it. He could do _something_. He could-

While his focus was on the portal, he totally forgot he was falling. The impact on his shell kindly reminded him of that. He gasped. The air was knocked out from his lungs. His vision was blurred for a second, then he heard Leo calling his name.

"Mikey!"

 _Oh, right,_ he forgot about the ladder, it fell with free fall speed and would crush him if Leo didn't push him out of the way. Mikey quickly moved away from the debris, turning his head and looking at the sky again. It was dark blue shade without the portal. It was closed, and so their fate.

Which means they were stuck here...

"Are you okay?"

 _Yeah, you fell into the portal after got hit by Kraang's laser and I was supposed to rescue you. But now you rescued me. Awesome day indeed._ "Fine. I'm fine. Nothing's broken, see?" Mikey groaned and sat up. "Ough, just a bit, I think. My back hurts. What about you?"

"I'm fine." _Oh yeah, bro, I know that tone too well._ Leo tried to hide his injuries again. Maybe his back was hurt like him since he also landed on his shell. _I'll let it go this time, bro._

"Where are we?" Mikey asked, looking around the rooftop. It felt weird to fall on the top of the building when they were supposed to hit the ground. "Are we just got teleported outside the building? Or are we in another dimension?"

"I'm not sure..."

"There are no buildings, ow, when I was in Dimension X last time," Mikey tried to stand up, Leo helped him get on his feet. "Hey, if this is really Dimension X, am I supposed to be a genius now? Come on Mikey, use your brain. Grrr."

Mikey squeezed his eyes shut to use his brain power but nothing happened, of course. Leo walked to the edge, his breath caught when he saw a familiar sight.

"It's New York..."

Suddenly Mikey opened his eyes and ran to see what his big brother saw, and he squeaked. " _Holy chalupa!_ Is this really New York?"

"It is..." Leo whispered, he couldn't believe it too. It was like a deserted city in movies with the-end-of-the-world plot.

The daylight made everything visible to see. Mikey began to shudder. "It's New York… except it seems to be destroyed by… Kraang?"

"No, I think the city is abandoned. If it was Kraang, it would have been more damages."

Mikey looked down at the streets and found no one, not even a single living thing moving on the road. There were a lot of abandoned cars with green plants grew all over them. If plants grew on them, then they were definitely abandoned for decades. New york city he knew was never quiet.

"Ugh, I smell zombies," Mikey muttered under his breath. "This kind of place reeks of zombies."

Leo reverted his attention back to his brother. "Don't say such a thing. Zombies don't exist."

"But this _is_ another dimension. Anything _can_ exist."

Leo facepalmed. "Don't, Mikey, or you're going to freak yourself out again."

 _He got a point,_ Mikey thought, so he changed the subject. "What do we do now, Leo?"

The portal was long gone, so basically they were stuck. Before Leo could say anything, the sound of footsteps behind them make them froze. Leo quickly signaled him to hide which he quickly complied. They just had a conversation about zombies and Mikey was not too keen on meeting one today.

"I heard something fell from the sky." _A male voice, good, zombies couldn't talk so at least this is a good sign._

"Alien attack? Great, as if we don't have enough disaster already." _Another male voice,_ he thought. Mikey took a peek at the newcomers. They seemed human enough. They would look like normal citizen if they didn't have guns pointing at the crumbled ladder.

"Look, it's here."

"How can this piece of junk fall on the rooftop?"

"Maybe there's helicopter passed by?"

"I didn't hear anything."

"Of course, you were day-dreaming as always."

"Hey!"

"Well, the government stop flying that thing a long time ago…"

The voices began to falter away from them. They didn't seem to interest in the wreckage or small drops of purple liquid which were made of alien technology. Mikey saw Leo's frown deepened as he observed two men walking away.

"At least there are people here," Leo said, "This city is not completely deserted. But why do they hide themselves during the day?"

A sound of the gunshot made both of them flinch. Leo looked over the edge to find the source, his eyes widen when he saw at least twenty people on the street. It was silent and empty a moment ago, now it was full of people. They didn't look like Purple Dragons, just ordinary citizens. He was sure he spotted a woman in the group too. They shouted and screamed and shot at someone who tried to run away.

"Leo, look!"

A man fell, he tried to crawl away but a group of people cornered him and shot again.

Mikey squeaked.

"They're… killing each other?" His little brother's whisper was so quiet he almost didn't catch it. Mikey was scared, and Leo had to do something.

Unable to turn away from the scene, Leo formed a plan inside his head. A plan to go back home.

"Let's get to the lair. If this is alternate dimension maybe we can see our counterparts like we did last time."

"Good idea, let's go!"

"You're too loud, Mikey. Quiet!"

Mikey tried to run away from the edge, Leo grabbed his arm to slow him down and followed him. They didn't want to see what people doing down there, they didn't want to see what they were going to do with a corpse And most of all, they didn't want to see if they were zombies or just a gang who killed others in order to survive in this cruel world.

* * *

 **Author's note** The event in this fanfic happened right after s04 "Earth's last stand." I'm not sure if there will be Leo's change of heart in "City at war". Hopefully not. By the way, I haven't watched "Trans-dimentional turtles", so my knowledge is based on 2003 version.

I just realized I put a very short summary but I think it's appropriate. Thank you for favs/following!


	3. Spring: Chapter 3

The city was too familiar they didn't have any problem to find the closest manhole to go to the lair. But they had a small problem getting inside the sewers. The incredible nasty smell hit them the moment Leo opened it.

"Eww. What is this? I remember sewers smell bad but not _this_ bad." Mikey complained while climbing down. Leo didn't voice his opinion and silently agreed. Once they were in the tunnel, he sensed something was off. There was too much debris, and there were so many old footprints on the muddy floor. Someone was certainly in here. Leo thought the idea of people walking around the sewers was weird. It was like they escaped something from the surface.

"There's something… someone here,"

"Human?" Mikey gulped, not too fond to meet one after seeing the murderous scene.

"I think so. Just be careful."

In next tunnel, they found strange fog. The sewers were attacked by fungus before, but this was different. The fog of thick spores was floating in the air, painting the surroundings like B-grade horror movie.

"Umm, what is this yellow fog?"

Leo frowned, his instinct told him not to breathe it. It was a good thing he reminded everyone to bring breathing unit before they started the mission. "Bring out your filtration unit."

"Oh yeah, because if we inhale it we will become zombieeee," Mikey made lightly of the situation as always, though he brought out the unit. "Hmm, brain, braaain, delicioussss."

"Quit it, Mikey. This is not a game."

"Okay, okay." Mikey hummed, "So Leo, how much do you know about zombies?"

"Mikey, I begin to think you want to meet one if you keep talking about it."

Mikey's expression was priceless, but he regained his composure quickly.

"But we have to be prepared before meeting an unexpected enemy. Don't you like to be prepared?"

Leo chuckled. To be honest, he didn't know much about cartoons except the Space Heroes show. Mikey took it as a sign for him to continue.

"Zombies are sluggish, they cannot run fast. And they liiiike braaaains very much." Mikey spoke with a dramatic voice, grinning at his big brother. But it took more than that to scare Leo. He was Fearless Leader, after all. So he continued, "The first rule to surviving in zombie world is do not let them bite you, ever. Or you'll turn into one of them."

"You got that from comic books?"

"Yup, and The Walking Dead series."

Leo was going to ask what it was when he saw a human shape in front of him. He stood still, grabbing Mikey arm. His eyes were dead serious as he knew humans in sewers usually mean grave danger.

That human was making a strange sound, and suddenly he ran to their direction.

" _What the-!?_ "

Leo's katana was already in his hand, he swung the blade in front of him so that person would back away. But he didn't stop, he was getting closer and growled. Leo didn't have a choice but to slash his flailing arms. The closer look of human's state startled him.

The half of his head was gone, replaced by some kind of giant sea flower. The skin was jagged and yellowish, and it smelled like decayed animal.

They were stunned, too shocked to comprehend the sight before them. This thing was definitely not a mutant.

Mikey screamed like his worst nightmare comes true.

Leo noticed at the last minute that this creature didn't come alone, there were three creatures running at them. Their speeds were obviously faster than the average human. Leo made a decision in split second. He slashed its throat, killing it instantly. Then he took Mikey's hand and ran.

"You said they are slow!"

Mikey blinked several times until he realized Leo was talking to him. _Oh, now he admits zombies are real!_

"Well, they're obviously not zombies then!" Mikey shouted back. "They don't even have _heads_. Maybe they don't need _brains_."

"Never mind. Just run faster!"

With their mutant strengths, both turtles could outrun them easily. Leo began to slow down and look behind his back, panting. Mikey tried to calm himself, taking a deep breath.

"What's that noise? They are… clicking?"

Leo heard it too. He remembered that creature made that sound before running to them like it used the sound to locate them. The clicking sound was coming closer, Mikey made high-pitch scream, again. Leo resisted an urge to roll his eyes and took Mikey's hand.

"We have to escape _silently_ , Mikey! Or else they'll hear you and keep coming!"

"Do you mean tactical _stealth_ retreat? Is that even a strategy!?"

"Just be quiet! Quick! Hide in the shadows."

They had been hiding in the shadows all the time and it became our habit. It was easy for them. One minute and they already on the pipes above the zombies. Leo clapped his hand over Mikey's mouth just in case. The three creatures staggered pass by without notice them. After a few minutes, Leo released him, looking around for the new path to the lair.

"This way. It may take some time but we can still reach home."

 _Home,_ Mikey thought, _that sounds nice. I hope zombies are not waiting for us there._

* * *

At least Mikey wasn't wrong. There were no zombies in the place that was supposed to be the lair, but there was also nothing here. This place had no resemblance to their home. It looked like a typically abandoned train station.

His heart sank. Leo seemed to share his sadness as well.

"So… no our counterparts in this world?"

"Maybe," Leo sighed. "We still can check April's apartment, though."

Mikey nodded. But from what they saw on the surface, he didn't believe his friends were here either.

"Well, on the bright side, that means no Shredder in this world too," Leo said hopefully.

"But the Kraang is here, right?"

"I don't know," His big brother shut his eyes, thinking. Mikey thought he looked like he was ten years older. "We have to check out for them. That's our chance to get back to our world."

They were silent for a moment. Leo was thinking again, he knew it. Mikey looked into the tunnel behind and thought about those monsters in the sewers.

"You know, if Donnie's here he would figure out something about that mushie."

Leo blinked. "Mushie- what?"

"Well, their heads are mushrooms, and I bet zombies are their relatives."

His brother shook his head, muttering something about _'only you would think mushrooms are on their heads.'_

"Do you think it sounds too cute for them? I'm thinking about Creeper-"

"How is your leg?" Leo asked out of the blue. Mikey gulped.

"I-err—It's fine?"

Leo crossed his arms and gave him a look. He sighed, looking down at his left ankle. It was cut when they were running from Mushies. The tunnel was dark and full of junks, and he too panicked to care what he stepped on. He didn't even feel it at first, so it wasn't like he tried to hide it from Leo.

"It's not that bad. I think the bleeding has almost stopped."

Leo leaned closer to inspect his wound, taking out a spare bandage from his shell and wrapping around his ankle.

"You need a stitch. This is just temporary."

Mikey visibly shuddered. _Oh man, I will get sewed up by Leo. But I don't want it 'cause it means needles. I hate needles. Because this dimension is horrible they don't even have 24-hour pharmacy store. Shell, I don't know if medicines exist here or not. Why is everything so messed up? I don't want to stay anymore. Can I have Donnie now? At least he knows what to do when I freak out._

Leo interrupted his thought by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let's get back to the surface. I don't want to stay here when it's dark outside."

Mikey nodded and complained loudly. "Man, the alternate dimension without _turtles_? This is not cool at all."

His brother didn't scold him this time, he guessed Leo's mind was already far away like he usually did when they were in space.

They walked side by side into the shadows. Mikey looked back at their non-exist home for the last time. He sighed, and held Leo's hand tightly.

He was surprised when he felt Leo squeezed his hand back as if his big brother wanted to remind him that he was not alone.

* * *

 **Author's** **note:** Thank you for reading!


	4. Spring: Chapter 4

The door of April's apartment was sturdy enough. Leo told him that they had to make sure all entrances and exits were strong enough to protect them from intruders while they rested at night. Mikey nodded, walking around to check the windows and find some foods. He found many cans of freeze dried blueberries but no water. When he told Leo he said he would find water and first aid kit, so now Mikey sat on the torn couch, waiting for him.

There was nothing for him to do, No TV, no cartoons, and no comic books. He found some pictures on the shelf. This room was definitely not April's. It was belong to a woman he had never seen before. After finished surveying, Mikey found himself looking back to the door too often. He was anxious about his big brother. Suddenly he felt lonely in this large, familiar, yet unfamiliar room.

The city outside was pitch black due to the lack of electricity. It was too quiet he could hear his own breaths. Mikey didn't like this, it made the sound in his head grew louder.

 _I want to go home._

 _How?_

 _I need to find that liquid portal again!_

 _How can you find it here?_

 _Well, I remember... its color?_

 _...Very helpful. So you're going to jump into every purple pool?_

Mikey was going to say ' _yes'_ but then changed his mind. Mainly because he knew Leo wouldn't let him jump into those pools.

 _Okay, that was dumb, I know. Then all I have to do is to find the Kraang!_

 _How?_

 _Back to the original question. Grrr._ He remembered Donnie asked questions like this yet he still sounded smart. _Guess it is Donnie's professional field, not mine._

The door creaked, and Mikey let out a girly scream before he could stop himself.

His big brother sighed heavily. "You have to quit that habit, little brother."

"Leo!"

Mikey didn't care about his injury for a moment and ran towards Leo to hug him. His left leg was throbbing but it was worth it.

"Careful." And for the first time since they came here, he saw a tiny smile on Leo's lips. "Here, I got some water for you."

Clean water was surely valuable here so he didn't waste a single drop. Leo gave him more foods, mostly canned products. But foods were foods and he was happy to have some, he was _beyond_ hungry.

"I think they invaded supermarkets many years ago. There's nothing left. I found some foods when I broke into the houses, though."

"You stole from them?" Mikey grinned, knowing his brother's honor wouldn't let him do illegal actions.

"I left some money for them," was a meek reply.

"You think money's still working in the place like this?"

Leo sounded defeated, "I don't have other choices."

"Nah, chill dude, I was just messing with you," Mikey smirked, offering a blueberry to Leo. "Second rule for surviving: It's okay to steal if you run out of foods. You know the owner won't mind if he or she's already dead."

Leo laughed, accepting it. "You just made it up."

"Hey come on, I'm the survivor expert. Remember Dimension X?"

Leo smiled and patted his head before bringing more items out of the bag. Old newspapers. And first aid kit.

"Alright, I need some light." He fished a small flashlight and turned it on, looking at his bandaged ankle. "Don't move, Mikey."

Mikey swallowed and bravely sat still, allowing Leo to unwrap bandage. Leo cleaned his wound while he hissed in pain but still held his leg. Although when Leo prepared the needle, he did the opposite. He moved his leg instinctively to get away from his brother.

"Mikey..." Leo warned.

He knew he was making Leo's job difficult, but he couldn't help it. He tried not to look at my wound but he could feel it anyway.

"Mikey." Leo tried to grab his leg again.

He squeezed his eyes shut. If he didn't see the needle, it didn't exist. This trick worked when he was five, though.

"Mikey, look at me," Finally Leo put down the needle, shook his shoulder softly. "I want you to put your arms around my shoulders."

He sneaked one eye open. "What? Why? But I would get in your way."

"And moving your leg _doesn't_." Leo puffed, putting his patience he had been practiced all years just to use on him. "I know if you don't hold onto something you'd start shaking and moving again. Just hold me and be still. I promise I'll do it as fast as I can."

 _There, he promised, so it's gonna be okay._ He complied. So whenever he felt a sharp pain, he held Leo tightly instead. It would soon reach to the point where Leo would be suffocated, but his big brother didn't mind. Leo concentrated on sewing and let Mikey held him like they did when they were young. It was nice to know big brother always know how to comfort him.

* * *

By the time they finished, Mikey was awfully tired. The whole new dimension with zombie situations had drained out his energy. He didn't want to move at all, simply lying on the couch. Mikey glanced at his brother who was cleaning the first aid kit. Sometimes he didn't know how Leo stayed up all night and was still upbeat in the morning. Mikey's eyes began to droop when he heard the door opened.

"Where are you going?" Mikey asked, his voice was a pitch higher than usual.

"I think I saw the light near Brooklyn bridge on my way back. Don't worry, I'll just get on the rooftop to confirm it."

 _And leave me alone in the dark room? What if mushie comes!?_

"I'll go with you!"

Leo paused, "I thought you want to take a rest."

 _Not without you in the room, of course!_ "Not anymore! I want to, err, walk around a bit, you know, stretching muscle and all that stuff."

"Your ankle hurts," Leo reminded him. As if he had alzheimer's and needed to be reminded of the obvious matter.

"I don't care!"

"You're such a baby. It'll only take five minutes, Mikey. I'm not going anywhere."

And he knew wholeheartedly that Leo meant it, he would come back within five minutes without doubt. _But five minutes alone in the dark place where real monsters exist? NO WAY._ Mikey used his secondary ultimate weapon. He pouted. He could use his super ultra ultimate weapon which was called 'scream' too. But those mushies attracted to loud noises so he didn't dare to risk it.

Leo sighed.

"Alright, I'll carry you."

Mikey held his fist triumphantly, then he blinked. "Huh? But I can walk."

"And I _don't_ want you to. You might hurt yourself again. Come on."

So basically five minutes walk turned into thirty because Leo had to give him a piggyback ride and stepped on the stairs carefully, avoiding to drop him accidentally in the dark. He guessed Leo might have a thought of dropping just for a revenge. But then again this is Leo, not Raph. He knew Leo wouldn't do that.

The breeze at night felt good. Leo pointed towards the other side of the city. He saw a distant light at the end of Brooklyn bridge and his heart fluttered.

"That's… a light! It's really on the Brooklyn's side."

"Yeah..."

"We're going to check it tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah..."

Mikey was excited to be able to get close to civilization again. But then he realized his brother became too quiet.

"Not in a mood, Leo?"

"That's not it. You're just heavy." Leo teased.

Mikey playfully hit Leo's shoulder. "Pfff. I'm not that heavy."

"Oh really? You sneak out to the kitchen every night."

"Then put me down. I told you I'm fine. See? Stubby's fine too."

"Michelangelo, get your foot out of my face."

"Umm, sorry."

They shared a serene moment together. He felt Leo's shoulder raised and dropped syncing with his breaths. For a moment they forgot about terrible stuff that happened in this alternate dimension. Apart from the ruined city, the sky above was clear, allowing the stars to shine. Whenever he was in the city, the ground usually illuminated with lights from the streets and tall buildings. Never thought there would be the day the night sky was actually brighter than the ground.

"Look, stars," Mikey mumbled, poking his brother. "We've never seen them in New York."

"Yeah, it's beautiful..."

"Look at the big one on the right!" Mikey cheerfully pointed to the sky, causing Leo to sway a bit. "I bet if Donnie is here he would tell me their names."

Suddenly Leo stiffened, his expression becoming blue. Mikey failed to notice it as he was too busy looking at the stars.

"Hey, I can name them, right? Since this is _abandoned_ city, so they must be _abandoned_ stars too. Right? Leo? Right?"

"Do as you wish," Leo said coldly. "We're going back inside."

Mikey felt a sudden change of mood and decided to stay silent during the trip back to the room. He scratched his head and wasn't sure why Leo sounded mad at him.

* * *

Fresh morning. A new start.

Mikey rubbed his eyes and walked to the windows to see outside. His heart leaped when he saw a few men walking on the streets and was happy for a moment that he now woke up from the nightmares. Then he saw them carrying guns, of course. He bowed his head.

 _I wanna go home._

Leo, on the other hand, was sitting on the floor with blueberry cans, water bottles, and newspaper. He was eating while reading old news, trying to get information of this dimension as much as he could. Leo scribbled on the newspaper, making a plan for today. Mikey joined him and bent over to see the text. He tried to be useful by thinking about what happened yesterday.

"Hey, now I remember… I saw Raph kicked the Kraang droid into this dimension. We should find him and make him open the portal again!"

Leo's hand froze in the mid-air, then he glared at him. "And you just tell me _now_? You should have told me about it since yesterday."

 _Okay, now he sounds_ _ **really**_ _mad at me._

"I-I just remember, bro. I'm sorry."

"Right." Leo snapped and continue writing. "We're going back to that rooftop to find that Kraang. I'm packing our foods right now. We'll take a backpack and bring everything we need in case we cannot come back to the apartment." Leo paused as if he remember something, his voice softened. "What about your ankle?"

Mikey checked his left leg. "I might not be able to jump across the rooftop, but I can take the stairs."

"Alright then. Let's move."

Mikey nodded tacitly, hopefully he won't mess anything up today. Leo seemed to be mad at _someone_ , and it was likely to be him since there was only one Michelangelo here.

* * *

The path they used were on the rooftop as always. They didn't have to hide most of the time because only a few men on the street, plus they had plenty of shadows to hide. Most of the buildings were empty so they could walk through easily. And they could use shuko spikes and grappling hook to hide on the side of the building. Leo let him lead and tailed after him to watch out for both of them.

The trip to the rooftop near the portal turned out to be fruitless. Leo found the remains of the Kraang droid in the alley, it seemed that Kraang was unlucky when it fell into this dimension. His big brother disassembled the robot to find some useful parts while Mikey buried the Kraang's body, or brain, whatever.

It felt oddly sad to bury their own enemy but he wanted to do it anyway. Leo didn't comment so he thought it was okay to do so.

They couldn't find the pocket portal in the robot. Mikey suggested they should keep Kraang's robot head so they can ask if anyone had seen it before. The idea seemed stupid. But again, Leo didn't comment. He gave a short answer most of the time as if he didn't want to talk.

Mikey began to think Leo was _exceptionally_ angry at him.

He swore he didn't do anything wrong, well, except he screamed too much yesterday, but he couldn't help it.

Plus, he was a good follower. He never questioned order and gladly do it in a heartbeat. He never confronted his own brothers too, and if they did, he was always the one who willingly backed away. So he didn't know why Leo acted like this, Leo should be happy because Mikey has actually _behaved_ for once in a while.

The last stop was Brooklyn Bridge. They founded that Brooklyn's side was controlled by a group of armed men. Since the bridge was the only way to get across, they decided to wait until nighttime where it had fewer guards.

He felt miserable and restless. He knew Leo felt the same. After all, they still didn't know how to get home.

Mikey thought about the vacation plan that had been ignored for some time. Come to think of it, it was odd opportunity that Leo and he had spent a time together just like he wished. Aside from being stuck here, he guessed it wasn't too bad.

But first, he needed to figure out why Leo was angry.

He attempted to lift up the mood even if Leo ignored him. He talked by himself most of the time and only receive clipped responses from Leo. However, when he stayed behind checking the old shop Leo would look back to make sure he was okay, so he thought maybe Leo wasn't _too_ angry to ignore him forever.

"Lots of cars, lots of chips, sadly not edible ones," Mikey picked rusty microchip from the ancient computer shop and threw it carelessly behind his back. "Donnie would love this place. Look, everywhere is a junkyard for him and only him. He could finish all of his projects with all piles of junk here."

Leo froze, and suddenly he was standing in front of his little brother. Mikey didn't notice him at first and almost ran into his plaston.

"Umm, dude?"

"You keep asking for Donnie."

"Huh?" Mikey tilted his head, not sure how to answer. _I did?_ It wasn't _even_ a question but he thought Leo needed an answer. "Because he would love the science thingy in this dimension?"

"So," The calm yet deadly wind named Leonardo narrowed his eyes. "You prefer to get stuck here with him, not me."

 _Okay, what is this all about?!_

Mikey felt the conversation was going to push them right off the cliff.

"Well, yeah, but no! I mean no! But yeah, I just want him to take us home, that's it!" Mikey said harshly, then he tried to cool down. "Leo, what is it? I just want to get home. You know you want Donnie here too."

Leo grounded his teeth. "I would rather no one stuck here."

Mikey gulped. He did not want to fight his own brother. Not this time. Not like this. Sometimes he was curious how can Leo stand face to face with Raph, now he experienced it offhandedly. "Leo... Please, bro. I said that because Donnie can help us with his brain. It doesn't mean I don't want you here, I just-"

"I am not good enough for anyone anyway."

Leo didn't shout, but his rage seeping on his words like acid. Then he turned and walked away from him.

Mikey was too shocked to follow him. His legs rooted there, staring at the view of his brother's shell that began to fade away in the twilight.

That night they didn't cross the bridge as planned. They were back at the not-so-April's apartment and were trapped inside their heads. Two brothers thought about what made them so lost, broken, and downright devastated.

* * *

 **Author's note** : Here's risky territory I'm treading on...

This is my last buffer chapter so please wait until I finish the next one. As you may notice, I tend to use simple words/structures because I have limited vocabulary. I'm still learning. I don't have beta so I use grammar check add-on before posting. So this is my excuse if I write slowly lol... Thank you everyone for reading/fav/follow!

 **Reply to Comment:** Guest - Another fan of TLOU yay! Thank you! I'll try my best. I'm going to alter some storyline so it will be additional scene from the game. Please look forward to it.

I replied the rest of comment via pm :).


	5. Spring: Chapter 5

_It had been two days since they were back to the lair. Everything seemed to be back to normal. Master Splinter was alive and Earth was saved, this was the best happy ending he could ask for! But something behind his head told him otherwise and he could no longer ignore it. He needed to discuss this topic with someone or else his head would explode, figuratively._

 _He thought about Donnie, but currently the genius was busy with the long list of projects he missed during space trip. Although he knew Donnie would listen if he asked, he wanted someone who gave him full attention when he talked._

' _What is the best way to get full attention from Raph? How about the old-fashionable way like-'_

" _Mikey."_

 _'Oops. Did I think too loud?'_

" _I didn't do anything! I swear!"_

" _Keep your prank ideas to yourself, chucklehead." Raph grabbed his shell and dragged him to the couch. "What's up with you?"_

 _He blinked._

" _If you're going to lie, drop it. I can see something's been bothering you for a while. Spit it out."_

 _Mikey fidgeted around and tried to make himself adjust to fit the couch._

" _It's not about me… It's..."_

 _Raph was incredibly quiet as he waited for Mikey to finish._

" _I don't want him to do that kind of solo mission again," Mikey concluded with a sigh._

" _Yeah, I know."_

 _Mikey turned to Raph with pleading eyes, "Once Leo is in trouble, he seems he cannot get out of it by himself. He needs us… Why doesn't he understand?"_

" _Oh I think he does, he just needs a reminder that he's leader, not daredevil."_

 _Mikey snickered._

 _Raph wrapped his arm around his shoulder and said, "Don't worry. I won't let it happen again."_

 _Mikey nodded with a soft smile. He hoped Raph could fix this. Because he was Leo's best friend, and because Raph usually had a way to bring back their oldest brother no matter what happened. He was not fond of violence, but he remembered begging Leo not to go, he tried, but his brother didn't listen. Maybe some physical actions were needed._

' _So how could I help?' Mikey didn't like the idea of being unable to do something. He had to find a solution fast. That was when the idea of vacation came up, Leo and he could use some quality time together. Maybe they would have a heart-to-heart talk and he could remind his bro that he was here to help, that Leo wouldn't feel alone anymore._

* * *

But now Mikey was alone.

And the only one brother he had right now didn't want to be with him.

Leo was in the bedroom pretending to do something way more important than talking to him. The door was closed, indicating that he wanted to be alone. The invisible wall between them was getting thicker and thicker, pushing him away like two magnets repelling each other.

Mikey never wanted this kind of space. If he was sad, he would prefer to stay with someone. Anyone. Being alone made his head spinning and thinking about things he shouldn't have.

 _So, basically, Leo is jealous?_

The idea of jealousy leader popped a large question mark on his head. _Why is Leo jealous?_ He knew he was close to Donnie, they usually stuck together during the missions, sometimes not willingly. He remembered there was a time he spent with Raph too. Leo should be jealous at that because he was close to Raph, right?

 _None of these makes sense. Ugh! If Donnie is here I can ask him-_

Wait.

He did that again, didn't he?

When he had small requests he always turned to his genius brother, believing Donnie could fix every problem in the world. That was his admiration for Donnie since he was a child. But when he had a bigger problem like when Raph was a jerk threatening to hit him with a skateboard, Leo would stand guard in front of him. At that time Leo was the greatest hero in his eyes. Mikey couldn't remember why he stopped running to Leo. Perhaps Leo was too busy practicing that he couldn't ask him to solve his 'big' problem anymore. Leo became too difficult to approach. Eventually, the gap between them was getting wider.

' _You keep asking for Donnie.'_

 _But it's not my fault,_ he thought. _I missed him. Well not only him but everyone!_

Mikey frowned and curled his fist.

 _What's his problem? I know I mention their names all the time. I_ _ **do**_ _mention him when I'm with Raph or Donnie too. It feels like he doesn't want me to talk about them. But we're brothers! And now we're stuck here so I miss them. I'm allowed to miss them, right? Fine! I don't care, I'll tell him I want Donnie instead of him. This dimension sucks._

He wanted to stand up and bang the door and scream at him. The problem was, he didn't have the heart to do that.

Leo's anger was different from Raph's. Mikey had been receiving tenderly love from Raph's head-smacking all the time so he knew Raphael usually concealed his care under his rage, in very, very deep level under his skin. What he got from Leo earlier was totally different. A piece of anger slipped out and struck him, leaving a red cut in his heart.

 _A whimper, yes, that's what I called it._

Mikey felt like he got punched in the gut under Leo's gaze. A beast whimpered, and all of the sudden it snapped, crushing him in half he wouldn't have a chance to scream. Mikey never thought he would be the one who received it.

 _How can Raph survive this? I'm scared…_

Mikey sat on the cold floor hugging his knees to his chest. His mind reeled back to their conversation.

' _I would rather no one stuck here.'_

His eyes overflowed with tears and his lower lip trembled.

 _He thinks I don't want him, but he doesn't want me either. He wants to be here with Donnie or Raph, not me. Of course he wants Raph. I remember now, he tried to stop me when I jumped after him. So he didn't want to be here with me at the beginning. Stupid Mikey. You should have listened to him and let Raph handle it. You should kick Raph into this dimension with him- well, that doesn't sound right, but my point still stands.-Anyway, I think he wants anyone but me. Nobody wants me. I can't help him. I'm useless._

 _But why didn't you listen to him?_ A voice in his head asked.

 _Because I don't want him to be alone._

Mikey answered immediately and shuddered at the thought of what might happen.

 _If I didn't jump in, he would be stuck here all alone. God, he wouldn't know about zombies. My poor big brother. If he is alone, he would have got bitten. He wouldn't be able to come back. He would-_

And now Mikey knew the right word to say to him.

 _I'm sorry._

 _I'm sorry for being selfish. I'm sorry I want Donnie here instead of you. Actually, I want us all together here so we can go home. I'm sorry I didn't let Raph jump in. I should have pushed him to fall after you so you won't have to deal with stupid little brother. I'm sorry I'm useless._

Tears choked him, and he began to sob aloud like a child.

* * *

A long time ago Donnie said they were the same age, which meant there was no eldest or youngest brother.

But when they grew up, their distinct personalities divided them.

Mikey had a habit of speaking his heart out, and that made him the youngest by default. Anyone always knew what he wanted because he _asked_ for it. It was typical if he missed Donnie he would unintentionally speak about him. He said he missed Master Splinter too when they were in space.

 _He didn't say that because he doesn't want me… right?_

Leo felt bad that he directed his anger to little brother. He should have known better. Now he lost control and hurt Mikey. Leo turned off the flashlight and put down the newspapers. No point to read if he couldn't concentrate.

He remembered the first time Master Splinter gave them training weapons. He was in the dojo all day and happily tried all wooden weapons. Out of curiosity, he took wooden Kusarigama from the wall. Since it was made for training, it didn't have a blade at the end. He wanted to use a two-handed weapon just like Raph so he tried every weapon they had. While he swung Kusarigama feeling it bounced off his hands, Mikey came in, making a sullen face and cried, telling him that it was his.

Leo quickly gave it to him, not wanting to see him cry.

But when he saw Mikey tried wooden katana, he wanted to cry like his little brother did too. He didn't want Mikey to play with his training sword. It was rightfully his, he chose it first! But he couldn't cry because he knew it wasn't the right thing to do. He simply watched his little brother playing with it.

Mikey always cried for everything he wanted. But that was not how the real world works.

Mikey always pestered him until he got what he wanted. But he knew this action could not go on forever.

Master Splinter told him once that a true leader needed to help his followers grow. He tried, but he had a conflict about the risks they'd take.

The idea of being independent crossed his mind. If he alone was strong enough, he could protect them from the entire world, allowing them to enjoy youthful life just a little longer.

But one could not carry the weight of the world.

 _In the end, I'm still not good enough for them._

If he could trade himself with Donnie, he would do it in a flash. Mikey wanted him anyway. He _wanted_ Donnie here too. He trusted the scientist would take care of him, plus Donnie would know how to escape from this dimension.

He put his hand on his head, _All I can be is a fighter, that's the only thing I'm good for anyway._

He had to find the way back to their world as soon as possible. Leo was afraid of what this dimension would offer if they stayed too long. He remembered killing the monster that was _once_ human yesterday. Human in this world was different, too. Judging from what he had seen the living people, he may need to _defend_ himself from them.

The sobbing sound interrupted his thought, Leo turned his head abruptly to the door, the guilt crept over his body. He made little brother cried. It was completely his fault.

Still frustrated and confused, Leo opened the door.

* * *

The door creaked, but this time Mikey didn't acknowledge it.

"Mikey?"

He didn't hear any sound, already shut the world out and buried his face on his knees.

But once Leo hugged him from behind, he wasted no time to turn around and lash on his brother, deepened himself into Leo's plaston and cried his eyes out. Mikey's iron grip was on Leo's shell and he decided tonight he won't let it go.

Leo kept saying ' _I'm sorry'_ over and over like he was chanting a prayer. And Mikey hoped tomorrow everything will be okay.

* * *

 **Author's note:** *Sighs* This story's still far from the end. Writing a fanfic use so much energy...


	6. Spring: Chapter 6

They said the true bonding between siblings is made through fights.

So maybe that was the reason their bonds were incredibly strong.

Mikey believed they _did_ have a fight countless times, like when he pulled a prank and Raph came to pound him to the ground. Although it was often one-sided since Mikey usually dodged a punch and let him explode, waiting until his brother was tired and gave up.

Donnie scolded him whenever he broke his equipment in the lab, but they would get back on good terms after some time.

But he couldn't recall the time when he fought with Leo. It was nice having the older sibling around, especially when he was much cooler than you. Mikey knew he deserved some payback when he pulled a prank but Leo never held a grudge. The Leo he knew was kind and forgiving, so why did he never feel close to him? Maybe it was Leo's duty to forgive because he was little brother. Maybe they didn't open up enough. Maybe they tried to extend the gap so they couldn't hurt each other.

The gap was stretched like an elastic band, and in the end it flicked back to hurt them anyway.

* * *

They clung to each other for a long time. Leo kissed his forehead and rocked him back and forth slowly. Mikey was still crying and babbling strings of endless apologies for everything he did. Although Leo didn't catch most of them, he heard something like ' _I'm sorry I didn't kick Raph.'_ He hoped he was wrong because it sounded irrelevant.

The sobs began to subside, still Mikey was near the edge of hysteria as his arms fumbled around and finally moved to wrap around his big brother's neck. Leo cupped his little brother's face with both hands, using his thumbs to rub tears trickling down the cheeks, effectively forcing Mikey to meet his eyes.

"Mikey..."

Leo didn't realize his voice was so shaky. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"Michelangelo."

Mikey stopped sobbing abruptly as if he was in trouble, _Oh, the power of full name._ Leo thought and quickly corrected him.

"You've done nothing wrong. It was me, I'm sorry I make you feel this way."

He caught a recognition in his little brother's eyes as though he just realized Leo was in front of him. Mikey sniffled, exhausted from non-stopped crying. His body finally gave in and just splayed his legs on the floor.

Mikey finally blurted out. "I wanna go home."

 _He always voices his heart out,_ Leo shut his eyes at that thought before open them again. Mikey looked so lost, scared, and weak. Leo swallowed a lump in his throat, feeling broken seeing his brother at this state, crumbled by his own hands.

Leo whispered back. "I'll take you home."

* * *

When Mikey stirred and opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the old couch. Rubbing his eyes, he turned his head and saw green and blue blurred color on the right side. Leo was sitting on the floor holding his knees up loosely, head leaning on the armrest with eyes closed. Mikey blinked and looked at the yellow shining sun started rising through the window. It was already morning.

"Leo?"

His brother woke up at his name, turning his head to see little brother with an unreadable expression. For a moment Mikey realized he didn't know to say.

Apparently, Leo cut straight to the point. He looked intently at Mikey and apologized before he had a chance to say anything.

"I'm not mad at you, Mikey. I-" Leo sighed momentarily to calm himself. "I'm sorry for all I said that hurt you."

It wasn't his apology that muted Mikey, he just used the time to recollect what happened last night. And then he remembered that Leo was… _jealous_?

He blinked when he realized Leo was still waiting for his answer.

"Is that what you feel when I'm with Donnie?" Mikey asked hesitatingly.

"No! It's just… perhaps I'm just disappointed in myself."

Leo trailed off and stared at the floor, not meeting his eyes. Guilt was going to kill his brother from the inside if he didn't say out loud.

"Forgiven," Mikey said, suddenly felt awkward. Usually, when his brother and he made up, it was done within half an hour top. Mikey couldn't stay angry at his older brothers for long. But this was the first time he fought with Leo. It was at least three hours that he felt he was all by himself. He guessed it made he felt little uncomfortable. "Just… don't do that again, walking away from me, not talking to me. I was so scared I would end up alone."

"I'm sorry, I won't do that again."

Leo still sat on the floor with his head down as if he waited for execution. He thought his big brother intended to let him decide a punishment for him. Mikey came up with an idea and grinned mischievously.

"You gotta buy me ice cream when we get home."

At least that earned a muffled chuckle from his big brother. "Deal."

But he was far from finished, Mikey grinned even wider and pretended to check his nails.

"But, dude, you break the top record."

Now Leo's head lifted up with slight confusion. "Record of what?"

"The longest time Mikey pouts at someone."

Leo winced, feeling guilty than before.

"It's not bad, I'll give you a reward."

"...Humor me."

"How about a trip to a beach in Florida?"

Leo blinked, not sure what his little brother meant. Mikey looked amused yet his request sounded honest. He replied back with monotone voice after he decided it was not a joke."Master Splinter won't let us go out of New York."

Mikey looked a bit thoughtful then asked again. "Wax museum?"

Leo tilted his head at the uncommon idea. "Why do you want to go on the trip anyway?"

Mikey pointed at Leo and then himself. "Because I want to have some fun with you! You and I need some bonding time. Today I think we both know that we have some serious issues and I want to fix it! And I really want to visit wax museum." He paused to take a breath then continued. "I was going to tell you after we finished the mission. But, umm, since we're kinda stuck here so I want to ask you first. And now I think it's a good time to bring it up 'cause you can't say no to me!"

Leo blinked dumbly. Last night he rehearsed his apology hoping Mikey would forgive him. Somehow the situation turned into a trip to the beach. But he cannot argue back because for once Mikey spoke the truth. They had some issues to work on. He sighed.

"I'll remember to ask sensei for permission."

Mikey beamed. "So, is that a yes?"

Leo laughed with good nature, the weight out of his chest was already gone.

"Definitely."

* * *

Tonight they would try to cross the bridge again. Yesterday they gathered enough supplies to last for four days so now they were just exploring the city during daytime. The old newspapers they found were not useful as they didn't say anything about Kraang or infected people.

They sat on the top of the building looking at the bridge. Leo held the newspaper in his hand. "It seems that twenty years ago the fungus broke out, but there's no information after that." He flipped to next page. "They said something about quarantine zone, but as we can see they might be already destroyed."

Mikey, who tried his best to sound serious, asked. "Do you think Kraang did this? I mean, it doesn't seem like something they would do. This is not close to Dimension X, even creepier."

Leo looked down before he answered."We need to ask someone about Kraang and some information about this world. At least we have to know how to avoid getting infected."

"Umm, if I may," Mikey scratched his head. "How can we ask someone? If you haven't noticed, they all carry guns. I'm used to people screaming when they see me. But here I think they will scream and _shoot_ me at the same time."

"Ask, or interrogate, if it's needed."

 _Oh, I think he tried to sound like Raph to make me feel less homesick._

 _Speaking of Raph..._

"Can I ask you something?" Mikey bit his lower lip. "If it's possible, do you want Raph to come too?"

Leo didn't say anything and glanced over the buildings. Mikey thought he tried to turn away so he couldn't see his expression. The silence drenched between them for a long time. In the end he replied firmly. "No."

He wasn't sure how to reply back. He thought Leo was going to say ' _Yes, so he can help me look after you,' 'No, I don't want him to suffer like us,' 'No. I think Donnie is a better choice. We could find a way home in ten minutes,'_ or something because that was what the leader often said to the followers. He waited, waited for more explanation. Because just a ' _no'_ wasn't satisfied enough. But Leo didn't even look at him, just glancing aimlessly to the city below. Leo didn't elaborate and the conversation just ended like that. Mikey stared at the crack on the floor, thinking if Raph was here Leo would tell him everything.

He shook his head as if to scare that thought away. If they were stuck here long enough he was certain Leo would be more likely to open up to him since there was no one else he can talk to. Hah! That was his plan anyway.

"They must be worried,"

Mikey startled because he didn't expect his big brother to speak. Leo clenched his hands, his eyes tense as if he was angry again. But this time anger aimed at himself.

"It's like we just finished one adventure and then suddenly we start a new one. We never get a chance to stay home. And we have a thousand of things to do back home but we're stuck here. This is a waste of time." His voice was full of emotion Mikey couldn't describe, it was something close to disappointed, sad, and self-blame.

 _Well, yesterday I learned one of his secret thoughts, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine to go._

Mikey tried to do what he did best: he talked.

"I hate this dimension, but it's not entirely bad. It gives us a chance to clear our mind."

Leo perked up. "How so?"

"You leave everything in your head back on Earth and focus on one task: find a way to go back home. Don't think of anything else. Brains are squishy and incredibly fragile, bro. It cannot keep all stress in your life. We have to let some of them go."

Now Leo looked at him with new emotion. Mikey wasn't sure but it was something close to… _proud_? Before he could analyze it Leo patted his head and gave him a tiny smile. "Since when did you become my voice of reason?"

He smirked. "In the different dimension, Mikey always rules."

The sun was going down. The shadows began to cross the city. It was time. Mikey felt a need to speak it before they start the mission.

"You know, D and I are best buddies," Mikey saw Leo's body went rigid. They avoided this topic because they didn't want to recall the fight again. But Mikey thought it was important, at least to him, to let Leo know how he felt. "So we still have a lot to catch up. Our start may not be so smooth but we can work this out. I mean, if we don't want to be mushie's dinner then we have to trust each other, right? We're two turtles short but still a team. You got my back, I got yours. I don't know why you don't want Raph here, but it's okay I understand. I wouldn't want Ice cream kitty here too. She would melt… Umm, what I want to say is, I'm not as good as Raph but you can count on me."

He thought he made sense. He should. Because he just said everything he wanted to say and he couldn't even remember what he said. Mikey quickly made his way to the stairs. He was embarrassed for no reason. He didn't look back, afraid of what may come.

A soft voice echoed from the top, it was from his big brother.

"You're good enough, Mikey."

A warm feeling bloomed inside his chest. Mikey couldn't help but smile. It was a small step, but he was sure everything would be okay as long as he had Leo.

* * *

It wasn't difficult at all. The gang expected the intruders to walk on the bridge, so they went under it using grappling hook gun. He loved being ninja _so_ much. They went through the first building near the bridge. This side of the city was illuminated with the dim lights from the buildings. On the ground, there were few armed men with a running truck.

"They're not from the military," Leo breathed, looking through the stained window. "But they sure have loads of weapons."

"So they're bad guys?" Mikey remembered his _New York_ , it was easy to tell which one was good and bad. Footbots and Purple Dragons were _bad_. If new mutants attacked him, they were _bad_. The problem was they didn't know which side was a good guy. They could be _good_ ones and still attacked him anyway.

"I think so. Don't let them see you. There are more people than the other side so we must be careful."

"I don't know. More living people means fewer mushies so it's a good thing?"

Leo frowned, and Mikey knew he thought about the group that killed the poor man on the first day. "People in this world feel… different. I think they're more dangerous than those zombies."

Mikey was going to correct the term ' _zombie'_ for him when he stepped into the living room. It was like walking into the crime scene. Three corpses in the room, one near the wall, another two scattered on the floor, in pieces.

Mikey again did what he best at: he screamed.

It was logical actually. If Donnie was here, he would say something like it was a way to deal with momentarily overloaded stress. Suddenly a hand clasped over his mouth and dragged him to the windows ready to escape.

"Mikey, quiet!" Leo hissed.

He tried. But his voice didn't seem to cooperate with him.

"Mikey, you said we must look after each other's back. But if you're going to make noise every time we ran into dead bodies then I have to leave you behind."

His wide eyes looked at Leo. _No, no, don't leave me! You can't leave me, bro!_

Leo realized it was a bad choice of word so he cupped Mikey's face and looked straight at him. "Just calm down and look at me."

Mikey clamped his mouth shut and nodded.

"Good. Okay?"

Mikey nodded again. _Oh hey, look, someone knows how to do when Mikey freaking out beside Donnie. Thank you for not slapping me._

Leo checked the room but he didn't hear any sound, maybe human hadn't heard them. He sighed.

"This is brutal. At this rate I'll have to cover my mouth for the rest of mission." Mikey tried to speak again with a low voice.

Leo deadpanned. "That's a good idea. Please do it."

That made him earn a glare from Mikey but he ignored it. His focus was on a pistol that was lying near the first corpse. He tentatively picked it up. Leo read about it in the past but he never saw a real one, guns he used so far were Kraang's or space laser gun.

Mikey whispered. "What are you doing? I thought you don't like guns?"

"No, I don't like them. I just want to learn how to use it, long-range weapons are quite effective to stop zombies."

"Mushies, dude."

"Fine. Mushies."

Leo tried to put his index through trigger guard but failed, then he had an idea "Our fingers are too big... But if we use the tip of finger..."

 _BANG!_

Thankfully, this time Mikey didn't scream. He just jumped to the corner of the room and ducked his head. Leo's body stiffened as the bullet ran harmlessly through the wall near the corpse's head. Nobody got hurt.

Mikey craned his head to look at Leo, keeping his distance. "Dude, you're _way_ louder than me."

"I-I think I should work on safety first." Leo's hands fumbled over pistol again. As mush as Mikey loved his brother, he chose to stay far behind him, didn't want to accidentally get in the range.

"Huh. Well, at least we can use it if we want. Fingertip?"

"Let's stick to our weapons then." Leo gave up and put it down on the floor.

They went into next room to collect more supplies. Mikey found two hoodies for them, they were going to use it if they planned to _ask_ someone about Kraang. He was in the middle of finding a functional TV (he was desperate!) when Leo materialized beside him. Mikey was going to ask but the hand signal from his brother told him that someone was coming.

They heard a voice outside the room and quickly went to the window.

"Found a thief there?"

"Not yet." Another footstep. "I heard a gunshot, he must be on this floor. Alert the others that we have company."

Mikey gave him a smug look at that comment. Leo slapped his arm.

"Is he a tourist with a kid we met last week?"

"Dunno. We chased them out of our area already. He must be foolish enough to come back again."

Before those men came in the room, both brothers already made their way up to the rooftop. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop. This side of the city had more supplies, but they had to be extra careful since human patrol became more active after their unintentional gunshot. And if they went too deep in the building, a strange fog welcomed them with sounds of clicking they heard in the sewers last time. 'Mushies', as Mikey called, were practically everywhere in the basements. This wasn't quite a safe place for them. After few hours they went back to the bridge, Leo looked around for the last time to make sure he didn't miss any suspicious activities on the ground.

Still, no sight of Kraang.

"So, what now?"

Leo thought for a moment and gave an answer.

"Let's head back to the apartment. Tomorrow we'll find someone and ask about Kraang."

Mikey looked troubled, after seeing corpses he didn't think he would have a good sleep tonight. And to think tomorrow they would meet a living one which might as well shot them on the first sight. He shuddered.

* * *

 **Author's note:** This chapter is long. Usually I'll cut it and put it to next chapter but this one is important for the flow of story so I didn't cut anything. I'll try to update every Friday (GMT+7), which is probably Thursday night or morning in US... Thanks for reading!

I saw "Broken foot" and it's quite good. I was secretly hoping Leo would go dark side lol but this was okay, I can find Dark!Leo in IDW. Aaand he's still on one-man mission. I hope Raph knocks a sense to him, literally.


	7. Spring: Chapter 7

_Mikey couldn't remember when and why he woke up in the dark cave alone. The rough cave wall was decorated with the torches, giving soft light for him to see. He couldn't see the entrance nor exit through the shadows._

" _Leo?"_

 _He called his brother. But Mikey only heard an echo of his own voice._

" _Leo!"_

 _This time his big brother heard him and stepped out of shadows, half of his body was concealed by darkness. Mikey felt relieved, but couldn't help pointing his index angrily at his own brother._

" _There you are! You promised you won't leave me! I thought I was alone for a second!"_

" _Mikey, I think I understand now. This world is not completely bad."_

 _Mikey stunned for a second. 'What did Leo just say?' Usually, his brother would begin with 'I'm sorry. Let's get out of here' or something. But Mikey decided to play along._

" _Well, it_ _ **does**_ _have some awful moments but it's not that bad, I think."_

" _They offer a chance to join them, to become like them. We can join them together."_

 _Now he was worried._

" _Umm, can we go back to the part where we become like them? Because I'm sure I don't want to be a mushie."_

 _Leo took a step towards him. "Mikey, join us."_

" _Dude… are you even listening to me?"_

 _When Leo walked into the light. Mikey saw a big orange sea flower on his big brother's head and thought Leo was going to join Halloween party, but then he realized it wasn't Halloween yet. So why Leo wear a costume? And he thought this costume looked similar..._

 _Then he looked at Leo's left arm. It was rotten._

" _GAAHHH!" Mikey yelled. "Your arm! Mushroom's on your head! Dude! It's on your head! Take it off!"_

 _Leo's evil laugh made his blood frozen. Mikey was too terrified to move away when Leo touched his shoulder._

" _I'll eat you..."_

" _GAH! No, you can't! I don't taste good. Get away from me!"_

 _He tried to squirm but Leo held him tight, ready to bite his neck._

"GAAHHAAH!"

Mikey screamed with his eyes shut, trying to move away from his brother's embrace. Then he heard Leo's gentle voice near his ear.

"Mikey?"

His eyes opened instantly. The dark cave was gone. They were on the old mattress in the apartment. Leo's head was on a pillow they shared together, he lied on his side next to him.

Mikey peeked at Leo's left hand that draped over his shoulder lightly, the blue eyes stared back at him. Not rotten. Good. He quickly groped Leo's head for mushrooms. Leo frowned at his strange action.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking your head. No mushrooms?"

"I don't think so. Me? Zombie?" Leo looked amused. Mikey huffed. _Yeah, sure, having your little brother scared to death is funny. Real funny_.

"Mushie, bro," He knew he would have a nightmare tonight. He _knew_ it. Good thing he had his older brother. Once he was sure that this was _really_ his brother, he sighed sleepily. "I'm glad I have you back."

Leo chuckled and nuzzled his forehead. "Go back to sleep. I'll be right here."

Mikey slept soundly for the rest of night, having Leo as his personal teddy bear.

* * *

His heart ached when Mikey told him he wanted to go home, now he felt guilty to see Mikey having a nightmare.

He couldn't shield him from the world.

Leo remembered when he fell into the liquid portal, he saw Mikey jumped after him. He tried to stop him not to come. Another dimension always came with a new environment. It was something out of his control and he feared he couldn't protect them from the unknown danger. So he didn't want any of them to come here at all.

And when they realized they were stuck here, Leo thought he was right. This dimension had proven itself to be the worst dimension ever. Now he missed Dimension X.

Since they came to the alternate dimension, they tended to avoid meeting people here. Not only they would shoot something they didn't understand such as mutants, but from what Leo observed they killed other people just for _foods_. They would kill and check victim's bag to find foods, water, and other garments. The reason to kill was so simple and ultimately disturbed.

"Leo?"

He remembered the first day he was out to find something to eat, he hid in the shadows seeing the group of men hunting a couple on the road just for canned foods. He was shocked, looking at cans in his hand that he gathered from someone's house. The value of it caused the death of the human.

"Leo..."

He didn't know how long their foods would last. He just didn't want to fight human for it. But if he wanted to survive… he didn't have much choice.

"Leo!"

"Huh?"

Leo turned to see his little brother who looked a bit annoyed at him, waving the slim wooden bow in his hand. It was one of the weapons they found yesterday. Leo preferred it over that pistol any day. "You asked me to use a bow and arrows?"

"Umm yeah," His mind tried to switch back to reality. He would worry about those people later. "It's a part of our plan. You said you're good at long-range weapons."

"Why can't I use a gun? It's cooler."

Leo didn't like the idea of his little brother holding a gun. He knew Mikey's aim was the best, but what unsettled him was the target his little brother had to shoot at. Humans. At least with the bow he could choose to injure them, not killing them.

 _Mikey is not ready to bear this burden. Not yet._

"Not yet. Besides, it causes loud noise. I don't want to attract unwanted visitors." Leo tried not to use ' _mushie'_ term. Because after he got a close look at it, it should have a name related to spoiled meat instead.

Mikey pouted but complied anyway. He always followed the leader without complaints, and Leo was grateful for it. Mikey tugged a hood to cover his face, hooked the bow over his shoulder, getting ready. "How are we going to do this?"

"You distract the group from the rooftop. I'll catch one man and bring him to our meeting point."

"And then we'll ask him nicely?" Mikey smiled playfully.

Leo cracked a smile. "I hope so."

He led Mikey to the building near the bridge. It was the street their car usually passed by. They didn't have to wait at all as there was already a commotion on the ground when they arrived. The scene was almost the same as Leo has seen before. Killing mercilessly for foods. But today was different as he saw a young man with a kid running away from the group of armed men. Leo's gaze immediately fixed on the kid. His breath hitched.

That boy was almost the same age as them.

"No!" Mikey exclaimed, turning to him with wide eyes. "They'll kill him! What're we going to do?"

"Mikey, on my mark."

His little brother abruptly adjusted his bow. Leo looked intensely at the scene below. There were five armed men on the ground and two in the truck, their prey was running to the opposite side of the street.

He gave a hand signal and leaped off the top of the building.

* * *

An arrow hit the gunman's shoulder with surprise. They didn't expect the tourist would have the reinforcement. Mikey shot another man with precise aim. Now two men down. Another two ran into the building to find their prey, but that was okay because he saw Leo ran after them. Only three of them in his sight.

One of them in the jeep saw the direction arrow came from and shouted. Suddenly they shot at his hideout. They were mad someone interrupted their hunt. Mikey rolled behind the edge to avoid the bullets. The Kraang's laser and bullets were the same concepts, although he had some difficulties because the bullets were smaller. It grazed his shell and he flinched at the sharp pain.

"Ow! Hey! Gah! Umf! Stop, stop! I hate guns! Wah!"

Now he couldn't shoot. This was bad. Leo might need some support down there, and he only had him. _Okay, what would Raph do… heh._

"That's all you got? Now eat this!" He took a chance to shoot another arrow. Then he saw the man on the ground holding a funny-looked glass bottle with fire, ready to throw into the building where their prey was. "Ooh no you don't!"

Mikey didn't miss. Molotov exploded in his hand, and the man screamed.

* * *

Leo went down with katana in his hands following two men from the group, moved around to avoid getting shot from the outside. Two shurikens hit their backs, they shouted, but it was too late to raise their guns. He finished them off in two slashes. Leo glanced back for a second, no one followed him. Mikey was a good distraction, maybe _too_ good. Because he could hear his little brother yelling from the rooftop. Leo sighed. Mikey had so much to learn about stealth attack. But this way he was relieved to hear his voice, it meant he was doing okay, for now.

He ran inside and found African-American man and the boy he saw earlier hiding behind the counter. When he had a closer look at them, he was sure the kid was around fourteen. The man tried to pick up his gun. Leo sheathed his katana, tugged his hood and offered a hand.

"Come."

The man looked surprised at his simple word. Both of them refused to move. Suddenly his head whipped when he heard the explosion outside. Leo couldn't wait for an answer anymore. The loud noise attracted those zombies and he didn't want to be here when they came. His instinct told him to go, so he pushed them to the back door.

Mikey was too excited with the result. Nobody had told him before that glass bottle can explode. He thought only glass objects that exploded were beakers in Donnie's lab. The man's arm and clothes were on fire and he ran off so fast out of his sight. That poor guy, he must get hurt so bad. He was trying to look for that injured man so he hadn't noticed that two men in the truck were gone until he heard the steps from behind. They knew where he was so they decided to climb up to finish him. Mikey turned promptly, his hood slipped off revealing his face to them.

 _Oh shell..._

"What _is_ that thing? New type of clicker!?"

"Who cares. Kill it!"

Turtles were not bulletproof. Mikey took kusarigama out and swung the chain to knock the guns from their hands. But the bullets were already fired, grazing his right cheek and arm. He gritted his teeth and pulled the chain back.

"What the hell!"

"Sorry! Gotta go now!" Mikey sprang from his position and jumped to the next rooftop in full-speed. He struggled to stay on feet because of a sharp pain from his left ankle. _Stupid ankle, just get better already!_

If only he knew how to stun them just by opening his mouth, he would do it a moment ago. Two men stood in shock, realizing the voice they heard all the time came from the green creature.

"That thing _talks_!?"

* * *

He carefully stayed in shadows most of the time, not letting them suspected he wasn't entirely human. The meeting point was actually the second floor of their apartment. It was difficult enough to convince them to come, but after they nearly ran into another group of armed men both of them followed Leo with less resistance. They didn't talk much, only short replies for directions, Leo was still a mysterious stranger to them.

"Where're you taking us?"

"My safe place."

When they finally reached the room, Mikey was on half-way climbing through the window, panting, with blood smeared on his cheek.

"What happened to _you_?"

He could tell that Mikey was hurt all over his body, but he pretended to look tough. "I err… I'll tell you later? Where's our guests?"

Leo slapped his hand on his forehead when he saw Mikey's hood lied naively on his back.

Damage was done. Now that they saw Mikey, the only option they had was ' _interrogate nicely'_ if it was even possible.

He heard a sharp intake behind his back. Big brother's instinct told him to step in front of Mikey just in case. The African-American man looked wary at them and suddenly searched his jeans for something. Leo held up a gun he secretly snatched earlier.

"Sorry, I'll return it after we finish talking."

The atmosphere went frigid. The man must have thought they were some kind of dangerous animals. Such a familiar sense from humans. The distance between them was still wide enough for an escape. Both humans feared of them, although the kid was more likely curious and stared at him like he met the animal costume in an amusement park, so Leo forced a smile in return.

It was the man who spoke first.

"What are you? What do you want? Are you guys… infected?"

"What? No!"

"Dude, have you heard zombies, or mushies speak? We're turtles."

"Not helping, Mikey."

Mikey pouted, then his eyes darted between the man and him as if he wasn't sure he should do the talk. Leo sighed.

"My name is Leonardo, and this is my brother Michelangelo. We just arrived in this world and want to know about what happened here." He held out his hands. "Mister, we might look different but we're not your enemy."

Mikey nodded, he gave his best with his proud friendliness, even with the blood stained on his cheek. "Yeah, chillax. We don't want to bite you."

The man was quiet for a long time.

"So you're alien, _real_ alien. Not the one that inhaled the spores and turned into a green _alien_."

"More or less," Leo conceded.

The man gripped the kid's hand. Leo knew they prepared to run if they had a chance, so he tried again.

"We helped you. Please, we just want to get home. When we finish you won't see us again."

The kid still looked at him, but the man narrowed his eyes. "How can I trust you? Who do you work for?"

"No one, we're on our own."

"Why did you help us?"

 _The answer is obvious._ Leo thought. He replied smoothly.

"I know you are a good guy because those guys don't keep kids around." He gestured toward the kid who still stared at him. _And he's around our ages,_ Leo thought.

The man stepped up protectively. Leo stood still, both hands on his sides, trying to make himself less offensive. The man stepped slowly until he was in front of him, then he looked down at him. "You're just a kid too. How old are you?"

"Sixteen going on seventeen!" Mikey sang behind him, waving his hand. "But we still haven't celebrated yet. We're too busy saving the world."

Leo decided to pull Mikey close to stop his talking, and at the same time gently wiping the blood on his little brother's cheek with his sleeve. Mikey whimpered.

He didn't know a small affectionate act towards his little brother changed a glimpse in the man's eyes. He was slowly, visibly relaxed.

"Too young to stay out here on your own," The man murmured under his breath, wrapped his arm around the kid loosely "I'm Henry. This is my brother, Sam. You're Leonardo right?"

Finally, a mistrust had been lessening. Leo turned to look at him and gave a tiny, genuine smile, while Mikey looked happy to learn that they were brothers, just like Leo and him.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Tiny bit of idea in this chapter comes from 2003's "The Darkness Within" and IDW's Mikey micro series.

Sooooo for those who didn't play the game, please don't read spoilers about this game lol. No cheating! They will be a little bit different from the game. I find Henry and Sam's characters difficult to write... a few next chapters will be some events from the game.

Off topic, I found TMNT fic with Pacific Rim AU. I'M SO HAPPY. Great crossover!

Thank you for reading!


	8. Spring: Chapter 8

_Here comes my least favorite part..._

"The whole point of using bow and arrows is to keep the distance from the enemy. Tell me why you still got blood all over your face."

He felt bad that their precious water was used to clean his wound. The graze was nothing serious, the bleeding already stopped, but Leo wasn't happy. Mikey thought since he messed up he should be a good little brother and listen to his brother.

 _He sounds like Master Splinter. Is this a part of his plan not to make me feel homesick? 'Cause you know, it surprisingly works._

"Well?" Leo quirked his eye ridge, waiting for his upcoming excuse.

"It's one of my off-days, okay? I didn't act fast enough when two guns pointing at my back." He wasn't going to tell him that he was distracted by the shiny bomb. No, never.

"You _let_ them sneak up on you?"

 _Oops_. He didn't mean to tell that, but Leo caught it quickly. Mikey expected another hour of lecture and internally groaned.

Leo chuckled instead. Now he was annoyed. He was hurt and his brother was amused!

"What's so funny?"

"I don't know. How about the fact that they're like an amateur, and you, are a trained ninja."

Mikey gave him a sullen face. He couldn't act tough like Raph, he couldn't come up with a good explanation like Donnie, so he just pouted. Mikey wasn't his usual target for lecturing. Then again, here there was only one turtle Leo could talk to. He rubbed his cheek again. "It's just a scratch. There, see?"

He didn't expect his big brother to lean forward, resting his forehead on Mikey's, eyes soft and voice soothing.

"I know. Be careful next time."

Leo held him for a moment before he let go. Mikey blinked, and mumbled. "Got it."

The sound from another side of the room reminded them that they weren't alone. Sam quietly arranged the stuff in his backpack and Henry sat near him. From the corner of his eyes, he caught Henry staring at them. The man quickly held his hands up.

"Sorry. It's like if I close my eyes I can't tell any difference. You sound like… human."

Mikey tilted his head, glancing briefly at Leo. He wasn't sure how to answer that. It bugged him a bit when he didn't know what to say. Mikey always had something to say regardless of the situation. Perhaps it was because he hasn't thought they were different. It had been too long since he met a new human.

"We're the same. Only our appearances are different from you." Leo answered with a gentle smile.

Mikey opened a can of blueberries. Their foods were running out soon since they had to feed four members. He sighed sadly at blueberry in his palm. "We could use real human foods too. Why is this place so terrible? No anchovies and sausages, no crispy bread, no candies..."

"It's been like for almost two decades, I wish I could have real foods too," Henry replied absently before turning to Leo with determination. "You said you want some answers."

Leo nodded, his leader mode was on. He sat in front of him with all serious business. "You could start with those infected that are lurking in this city."

"Mushies!"

"Munchies?"

"Zombies," Leo corrected. He earned a glare from Mikey.

Henry crossed his arms, amused. "I see they are similar, but they don't eat humans. They don't eat anything. Those infected people are clickers, and they ain't not only in this area. They're everywhere."

Mikey dropped the can with a shocked face.

"Clicker? That thing already has a _name_?"

Leo cut in before Mikey could interrupt. "What is the cause of infection?"

Henry frowned and looked at them skeptically. "Before that question, you sure you're not infected?"

"We encountered some of them and managed to escape. I assure you, we're clean."

"Not only a bite from them, if you inhaled the spores you already got it."

Leo's eyes widened. His small reaction caused Henry reached behind to grab a gun, Sam quickly stood and took a few steps back from him.

"Damn," Henry muttered, gun already in his hand.

"No, no, wait!" Mikey held his arms between them, suddenly needed to explain for his brother. "You mean the yellow fog is the spores? We have filtration units Donnie made for us to breathe in Dimension X. We're fine!"

"Unit what?" the man exclaimed. "How long's it been since you met those clickers?"

Leo, who hadn't uttered a word during the fuss, calmly spoke. "Three days ago."

Henry pondered a piece of information for a minute, then he sat back. "Hmm, then I think your alien units work. It takes around six hours before you enter the first stage."

"Phew," Mikey wiped the imaginary sweat away from his forehead.

"I thought you're infected for a second."

Leo shook his head. "My apologies. I haven't thought that we could get infected so easily just by... inhaling spores. This is worse than get bitten."

"Yeah, that's why half of the world is dying. No cure yet."

Leo thought of something then whispered to Mikey. "We're not out of the wood yet. I don't know if our mutant blood will react the same as human's."

Leo was speaking the truth, but Mikey knew better to doubt his brother. "You know Donnie's machine always works."

"But-"

"Donnie created it. It works, bro."

Mikey spoke with unusual seriousness, looking into the leader's eyes as if to challenge him to come up with contradiction. Leo opened his mouth to say something but decided to let it slide, shutting his eyes and sighed.

"You're right."

"Of course I am." Mikey smiled, and he was glad to see Leo smiled back.

Leo contemplated his next question for a moment. "Those guys mentioned about chasing off the tourists. Did they mean you and your brother?"

Henry glanced at Sam, hesitant to reply back. "They mean our group. We come from Hartford zone. The military left that area so we had to get out. Actually, they're more of us last week until the hunters found us."

"I'm sorry," Leo said quietly.

"We want to escape," Henry continued. "The situation here is getting worse. The fight between military and Fireflies broke out before we come and now those hunters claimed this area. But it's only a matter of time since those infected begin to get out of control."

Mikey perked up at the odd name. "Why did the military fight against fireflies? They don't like bugs? But they're just puny little bugs." He got an idea and leaned towards his big brother. "Do you think they have bug issue like Raph?"

"What is Fireflies?" Leo ignored him.

"It's the name of the rebelling group trying to save the world by researching for a vaccine. The government doesn't give a shit about us anymore; they only care about themselves. At least there's hope in Fireflies."

Leo nodded in understanding. He was about to ask another question but Mikey waved madly in front of him. "Me, me! Let me ask the last question,"

Reluctantly, Leo shifted aside to give him some spaces. Mikey picked the Kraang's robot head out of his backpack. "Do you know this robot?"

"No, never seen them." Henry shook his head. "Is that from your world? So you're trying to find your lost spaceship?"

"Portal, actually," Leo said, he was so tired of alien stuff.

There was a hint of amusement in Henry's tone when he asked. "Why did you choose to come to this shitty world?"

Leo's expression was blank. "We didn't have a choice."

Mikey was disappointed that after all they had done they still didn't know the way to get home. He tried to push away the idea that they might get stuck here forever. "You know, we've never had a trouble finding the Kraang before. We could find them every weekend. I know they always up for something on Saturday night..."

"Kraang?" Henry asked.

"You know them?" Suddenly Leo's eyes sparkled with hope.

"That's… the name of a high member in Fireflies." Henry recalled. "Last year Fireflies and Kraang teamed up to bring down the military bases in Colorado. It's pretty big because they actually _did_ beat all of them within a month."

"The Kraang cooperate with Fireflies?" Leo clenched his hands on his lap. Mikey looked at him, worriedly. They knew from the past experience that whatever they were up to couldn't be a cure for the world.

But from Henry's point of view, they were the saviors. So they couldn't say anything.

"Look, we're going to join Fireflies. Rumors say that their bases are somewhere on the west. Check this out," Henry showed the map of the city to them, pointing at the tall building outside the city. "This is our meeting point, an abandoned military radio station. Any survivors from our group were supposed to meet us there - tomorrow."

Leo was deep in thought, tapping his index on his lap.

"So what's your plan?" Henry asked enthusiastically.

Mikey knew it was the only way to get their tickets home. It was the first clue that the Kraang did something here. _I bet the Kraang created those stupid mushrooms!_ He thought angrily.

"We have to find the Kraang. I guess that includes finding Fireflies." Leo said, calm as ever. Mikey thought Leo must feel the same way as he did, except Leo wouldn't slip his emotion out to the surface. "We can help you get out of the city."

Henry stared at them. "I'm gonna say you're not just normal alien kids."

"We're far from normal as you can see."

"Who would have thought one day I'll side with aliens." Henry wondered out loud. "In the world like this, E.T. might be the best ally."

"I start to get offended. We're turtles, and proud to be ones!" Mikey playfully remarked.

"Sorry, Michelangelo." Henry grinned, "So can I ask you? Are you _really_ a giant talking turtle?"

Mikey groaned. Another serious talk was coming. He was bored so he would let Leo do the explanation. After all, Leo was better than him, and he wanted to do something else like getting to know another little brother. Mikey turned away from them and sat near the boy, offered his friendly smile.

"Sam, right? Want some blueberries?"

Sam, who hadn't talked much since they met, looked at him with wide eyes. "Wow… your hands are big."

Mikey laughed. "I'll tell you, five fingers are overrated."

* * *

Leo roused him from his sleep. He opened his eyes and saw Sam curled next to him. He didn't remember when they lied on the floor with blankets on them. It was probably Leo who brought them.

"It's time," Leo told him briefly before he left. Mikey stretched his arms, still felt sleepy. He was on auto-pilot to grab his backpack. In the next room, both big brothers were standing near the table in the dim light checking the map for the last time.

"What about the tunnel?" He heard Leo asked.

"I don't want to take a risk with spores."

"Then we'll have to cross the bridge," Leo concluded, strapping the scabbard on his back. "We'll follow you."

Sam was walking towards him, Mikey moved a bit so Henry could see him. The man reached to his little brother. "Sam, we have to move fast so you stay close to me, okay?"

"'Kay"

He thought Leo would do the same, but his brother didn't say anything, only held his hand and led him to the door. He guessed that Leo was occupied with million thoughts in his head again.

It was night time, but he didn't need the light to see that the city was wrecked. They usually stayed on the top and looked down to the street. Now when they actually walked on the street it gave horror atmosphere. He had seen similar sight when they hid from the Kraang in New York city during the invasion. Except there were less dead bodies. People in New York were mutated and sent to Dimension X. Here? Their bodies were left decayed either on the ground or… on the tree.

Mikey swallowed hard and clung to his big brother's arm when they passed the big tree on the intersection. The person was hanged on the tree with a wooden sign. No, definitely not his city. This is a nightmare. He had to wake up.

"Don't look," Leo told him softly, his gaze still fixed on the path in front of them. It seemed he was the only one that had this problem. Sam was younger than him and he hardly flinched when he saw it.

 _This is like walking in the haunted house. I have to be strong, remember? No more screaming. Mushie- Fine, clickers will come to you. Ugh, I shouldn't think about them. Now I feel sick. I'm gonna-_

"Calm down."

Mikey was amazed at his own brother. "Did you read my mind? How do you know I'm going to freak out?"

"You're shivering." Leo pointed out. He probably felt it because Mikey still attached to his arm. "Just don't look at them. You'll have a nightmare again."

 _If I don't want to think about clickers or humans, then I have to think about something else._

"Hey, Leo" Even if he didn't turn to face him, Mikey knew he was listening. "It's gonna be our first time outside New York. Are you excited?"

"I don't know why you're excited since we've already been to another dimension _and_ space."

"It's not the same! You know what?" He kept his voice low and serious in very un-Mikey-ish way. "We can practice the trip!"

Leo snorted. "Why on earth do we need to do that?"

"Well, before we take the first trip to Florida, we can practice by going out of the city first."

"I gotta ask the kid to quiet down. Hunters are around the bridge, and clickers too if we're lucky."

Henry's voice came from the front. Mikey clamped his mouth shut, glaring at the man's back. His big brother and he were discussing an important topic here! But Leo seemed to agree with him.

"Focus, Mikey. Those things are dangerous. We couldn't let our guards down."

 _I feel like being scolded by two big brothers..._

* * *

They had to hide among the abandoned cars since the hunters were guarding the bridge. There was a large gate blocking the path to the bridge, too many guards walking around. Eventually, they had to get through the building to reach the side of the bridge. A few hunters were gathering around the fire, talking in low voice.

"Let's take them out quietly," Henry whispered. Leo nodded and turned to him.

"Mikey, stay here."

"What! Why? I can fight!"

Leo tilted his head towards Sam. "You have to take care of him."

"I'll be fine," Sam said from behind, but Henry had the same idea.

"Stay with Michelangelo. We got this."

Mikey hid behind the table, looking out for them. He was upset to be left behind. He could help! Why wouldn't they let him help? He could do stealth attack too. The boy, however, didn't seem to be bothered at all. Sam found it was easier stay behind adults and let them do their jobs. Mikey glanced at him, even if they were around the same age but they were so different.

"Don't worry. We're on B team together."

Sam looked confused. "B team?"

Before he could explain how awesome it was, he startled when heard a thud. Leo knocked them unconscious with the hilt of his sword, while Henry put the guard into a sleeper hold.

Despite having a weapon, Leo only used the hilt to get the guards down. Henry was curious. "You don't kill?"

Suddenly he paused his step, not meeting Henry's eyes. "It won't be necessary for now."

Henry looked at him with an unreadable expression before turned back. "Fine. Let's get moving."

After half an hour, they were on the other side of the gate, out in open. They hid behind the cars.

"Careful. They got a light here."

Mikey saw the spotlight on the gate, few hunters were talking. They were so close to the way out when Sam fell on his knees. Mikey was the closest so he helped the boy get up and run to his brother. Then the spotlight turned at him. He froze mid-step, the audible gasps coming from the hunters.

"Shit-!" Henry quickly grabbed Sam and ran towards the bridge.

"That's the green clicker we saw this morning! I told you it's real!"

"What!? New type of infected?"

"There's two of them!?"

Leo muttered. "Oh boy."

"Don't let them get away!"

 _And here I thought I won't mess up again. Today is definitely my off-day!_

His legs sprang to life when the machine gun shooting at them. Mikey squeaked. "They sound _real_ mad! Run!"

They jumped over the car to evade the bullets. As he bounced off a car roof, Mikey spotted the hunter running from the side with a gun pointing at them, but his big brother didn't seem to notice. He did backward flip and threw a shuriken at his hand holding the gun. The man fell with a loud cry. Mikey spared a second examining his brother. Leo looked kinda out of it, he didn't notice his attack at all. Not only this time, on that day Leo should have evaded the laser from the Kraang easily. Something was on his mind and it clouded his concentration.

 _It's cool. I got his back. I have to._

The bridge has long been broken. The gap was too wide. Humans like Henry and Sam couldn't jump over. The hunter was driving the truck after them, causing the bridge shook dangerously. The bullet whizzed over their heads. He was ready to switch to kusarigama to use a chain when he heard Henry yelled.

"We have to jump!"

Mikey couldn't comprehend what happen next. It was very high and the current was strong, but Henry grabbed Sam and already drove into the water. A second later Leo grabbed him from behind and jumped after them. Mikey didn't even have time to catch his breath when he hit the water.

* * *

"Ugh. I hate this world."

He was drenched from head to toes. Water splashed under his feet every time he moved. Everyone learned to ignore his complaints by now. They were all wet and wandered in the darkness, trying to find the way to reach the radio tower. At least they were safe since the hunters seemed to not care about them anymore.

"You okay Sam?"

Leo heard Henry's voice and glanced at the boy with concerns. "Are you alright?"

Sam was nervous when he became the center of attention. He spoke under his breath, trying to make himself smaller. "Yeah, it's kinda scary because I can't swim."

The man draped his arm around his little brother's shoulder, pulling him close. "Sorry, buddy. You know I got you."

"Yeah..."

Mikey watched them from behind and wondered why no one asked him if he was alright. He was little brother too! He was about to stomp on a little water puddle under his feet in hope to splash some water on Leo when he heard his name.

"Mikey?"

 _Is that… big brother's concern he heard!?_

"Can you help me lifting the sewer grate?"

Mikey made a long, disappointed face.

"Ugh. Sure. Fine."

Finally, his big brother noticed something was off. "Are you okay?"

 _Oh, now you ask me!?_ Mikey snapped internally. He was going to say something but stopped himself.

 _Well… come to think of it, I'm actually okay. Only drenched all over my shell. Other than that? I'm good._

 _But I hate it when Leo doesn't care about me…_

 _That's not true. Of course he cares. Remember the tree where-_

 _No, no, don't think about it!_

The image of hanged man came into his mind and he couldn't help but shudder. Leo stared at him but Mikey averted his eyes, sighing. He didn't know how to explain his feeling. Wow, he never had this problem before. He didn't like what he felt right now. Before Leo could ask him further, Henry interrupted them, thankfully.

"Hey, good thinking. I think it goes all the way through."

Mikey pretended to interest in the grate in front of him, but standing next to Leo made it impossible to avoid him. His big brother never backed down from what he wanted.

"Mikey… Are you injured?"

"No..."

Henry turned to look at him. "You alright, kid?"

 _I don't understand. I craved for their attentions a moment ago. Now I don't want it. What's wrong with me?_

"Yeah… I'm just… hungry." Not entirely lie since he always hungry. Heh.

"Hey, when we reach the tower there will be full of supplies. Just wait for a little longer." Henry tilted his head towards the grate. "Leonardo, give me a hand."

When they were inside, Henry turned on his flashlight, allowing them to see the large place inside the tunnel. There was a big hole in the ceiling, rusted cars in the water, under the hole the big tree stood tall in the sewers.

"Sewer sweet sewer…" Mikey murmured.

This was their territories. This was where they belong. The air flow in the sewers was surprisingly clear which meant there won't have spores in here. Entering the familiar place made his previous thoughts went out of his head, replacing with loneliness.

 _I miss home._

"Let's find the way to the other side."

"Don't worry. We're sewer experts." Leo said confidently. He probably thought the same as him. They obviously missed the sewers that didn't have clickers.

Deep inside the tunnel, they found someone set the home here. It was like the lair in stadium size, like the entire sewers turned into living place. There were shelves and tables and chairs along the way. Mikey reached the tunnel on the right and found a small room with colorful tables and whiteboard on the wall.

"They set up the school here. They must have children!"

Leo observed. "It seems they already left this place. Maybe they find another shelter or..."

"...infected found them" Henry finished. "Let's hope it's the former."

Leo tensed a bit. They hadn't heard any sound since they came through so he hoped those things were not in here. Most of the time the sound came from his baby brother.

"Look, they have football!" Mikey held it in his hands, showing it to everyone.

"Wow..." Sam hesitantly touched it, so Mikey encouraged him by giving it to him.

"You know how to play right? If you don't, I can teach you!"

"I know a bit… Can we play it? Can we keep it?"

Sam beamed at the idea, but Henry killed his enthusiasm quickly.

"Drop it. We can't take it."

"Yeah, I know… sorry."

Mikey looked crestfallen when he saw the boy's sad eyes. Sam obviously wanted to play with him. So Mikey would find another chance to play next time.

"Stay close, Sam"

"I know."

"Well, someone's finally learning."

From what he'd gathered, Henry was more strict than Leo. The cruel world shaped him into overprotective big brother. Maybe because Sam couldn't fight like him and needed protection. He was grateful that Master Splinter taught all of them to defend themselves. Otherwise, he would be in Sam's state. He looked sadly at the ball on the floor one last time before Leo pat his shell gently, guiding him to the next tunnel.

* * *

They were trying to find the right path leading to the outside. His eyes caught something on the wall. A button. Hey! It's a button! And it looked like home-made button because who would put it in the middle of sewers? He looked at the locked wire door on the other side of the room and thought maybe it was a switch for the door.

So he pressed it.

" _Mikey!?_ " Leo shouted at him but it was too late.

It was definitely the switch for the door, except it was not for wire door. The large safe gate fell from the ceiling, dividing the group into two. The ground was shaken by the impact. Mikey startled, slowly turning to see the damage. Did he kill anyone!?

Fortunately, he didn't. Everyone was alive. But he saw Leo and Sam on the other side of the gate, trapped in the room with wire door, while Henry stuck with him.

"Sorry! My fault, I… I set off the trap."

 _No, please, not again. Why do I have to mess up every time?_

But Henry seemed to disregard him, he scrambled to the gate and looked at his little brother through the iron bars. "Sam, you're okay?"

Still shocked by the loud noise, Sam nodded shakingly. "I'm… I'm okay."

Mikey wanted to check on his brother too. He couldn't see Leo from where he stood. The gate had a small square hole with iron bars, judging by the gap he probably couldn't put his hand through. But then he heard the clicking sounds from the right. It was the first time he heard something in the sewers. "What's that noise?"

Henry turned his head at the familiar sound and quickly grabbed his gun. The loud noise from the fallen gate lured those things here.

Mikey screamed when the first mushroom head running to him. "Ahh! It's coming!"

"Mikey!"

He heard Leo rammed the gate but it didn't move an inch. Luckily Henry shot it in time, but the sound of the gunshot was calling other clickers to come.

"Henry, the gate is too heavy! You have to get out of here before they come!"

Henry grabbed the bar on the gate and looked at them. "Sam, stay with him. And you, if you let him get hurt..."

"I won't allow it. You have my word. Just… take care of him for me." Leo sighed in defeat, not liking the situation at all, then he turned to Michelangelo. "Mikey, Mikey! Listen to me. Don't panic. I'll find another way to meet you."

He tried to calm himself. He failed. He was too scared and totally forgot to fight back when he had to. Leo and he got separated! How can-

 _But I can't watch your back if we get separated! You're not being yourself! I know you're thinking too much you can't concentrate! What if something happens when I'm not around! This is one of cliché in horror movie, we got separated and then bad stuff happen. No no no! Stop thinking Mikey! I'll be fine and Leo will be fine too. Just have to focus on finding the way out._

Mikey had too many words in his head and all he could utter was,

"Leo! Focus!"

Completely bewildered, Leo blinked stupidly at Mikey who was on half way screaming and running from a horde of clickers. He was speechless and stunned until Sam tapped his arm and told him to move.

Of all the people, Mikey told him to _focus_?

* * *

 **Author's note:** Fixing errors. Thanks for reading!

Just finished IDW#61. Wow... Leo and Mikey's argument about foot clan. I'm with Mikey 100% even if I'm Leo fan. Leo, how could you! You're dishonorable!

And Nick's "Mutant gangland" is fffffff superb! I really love their fighting scene and how the story developed into more mature way (mafia fight!). I noticed they always pair Leo/Mikey just for a small moment. It doesn't happen much in last 3 seasons.

Off topic, Last of Us: Days Gone is coming! I want to know its story so much... And Last Guadian, Bioshock remaster are also coming. But I won't disappear, I'll try to update this fic as much as I can. Actually, games don't consume much of my time because I mostly watch gameplay. It's my part time job that takes all my time...

Oooh and for the sake of Bioshock, would you kindly leave a review? XD


	9. Spring: Chapter 9

To tell the truth, Leo was still confused about his little brother's last words. He was overthinking to the point where he believed it was a cryptic message (for what?). But it didn't make sense. What could possibly be the meaning behind two simple words?

Leo rubbed his temple, eyes closed. He decided to keep it until he met him again. Now it was the time to face the reality.

He looked around the small space. In front of him was the iron gate, behind him was the wire door. He was trapped with the human boy named Sam, who was Henry's little brother. Frankly, he didn't have much experience with siblings besides his own. Leo glanced at the downcast boy. Clearly, the boy wanted nothing but to get to his own brother as fast as possible.

All clickers already ran after Henry and Mikey. None of them saw him, so this small space behind the gate was probably safe. Then he turned to touch the metal wire on the door and thought about how to get through. There was a small hole on the floor connected to the space behind the wire door. He wanted to do it, but his shell didn't fit the small space. Sam followed his gaze at the hole and perked up at his idea.

"I can crawl through it and open the door for you."

Leo considered the offer. Looking through the door, it was wide space. He didn't hear anything from the other side. No clickers at least. Finally, he nodded.

"Be careful, Sam."

Sam looked surprised at him and he had no idea why. The emotion behind those dark brown eyes was gone before he could analyze. Sam crawled through and quickly opened the door.

"There you go."

"Good job." Once again, that emotion was back in the boy's eyes and he felt uncomfortable. Why did Sam look at him like that? He cleared his throat and patted the boy's back. "Hey, don't worry. We'll be fine."

Sam was back to stare at the floor and mumbled. "Yeah…"

Perhaps he didn't feel safe. Even though Sam was younger than him, they almost had the same height. Years of hiding behind someone who was taller than him made the boy felt neither of them was adult, that he was not safe. But Leo gave his word, he would take care of him no matter what. Leo awkwardly grabbed his hand.

"Come on Sam, this way."

Sam didn't jerk his hand away, but his eyes fixed on his hand. Leo quickly released it and cursed inwardly. Did he treat Sam like a youngling and offend him?

"Umm, sorry."

Sam widened his eyes. "No, I-I was surprised. Your skin is slick."

He was aware that they shouldn't talk since clickers could hear them, but he couldn't deny the look on the boy's face. It was pure curious, and for once it was coming from someone who didn't want to dissect him.

"Umm, it's because we're part reptiles. Have you ever seen turtles before?

"No," Sam replied shyly. "Never seen a real one."

"Well, I think we're a little bit different from normal turtles..." He trailed off, not sure what to say. He wished Donnie was here to explain this kind of thing. His hand was back on his side loosely. Then he felt something touched his hand, Sam was grabbing one of his fingers since his human hand was small, giving a sign that he wasn't afraid of him. Leo smiled. They walked in silence to the next room.

There was no sign of any movement except the dripping sounds from the pipes. Sam rubbed his arm as the temperature seemed to drop, his hand still glued on his green finger. When he opened the next door, the sight of the curved tunnel with stairs down to the water greeted him. There was some moonlight from the hole above enough for him to see that half of the tunnel was underwater. They had reached the dead end. Leo knew the water level was quite deep. Sam unconsciously squeezed his finger in fear.

"The end of waterway must be the intersection tunnel, that's where we can reach another room and find the way to meet them." He looked around, checking if he turned to the right direction. The structure in sewers was usually the same so he was certain there must be the way out at the end of the tunnel. He hoped he was right, he didn't want to get lost in here. "There. We must go that way."

"Ugh," Sam glared at the green water below.

Leo knew the boy couldn't swim, and he seemed afraid of water, so Leo gave him a warm smile and patted Sam's shoulder.

"It's okay. Wrap your arms around my neck."

He adjusted his backpack and scabbards, dropped on one knee to let the boy climbed on his back. The edge of his shell was hard, he told him to be careful. Sam was amazed by his shell that he forgot about water momentarily. But when they were in the water, Sam looked nervous again.

"You sure we won't drown? Because, you know, we have to be in the water for a long time." He looked inside the dark, long tunnel and beamed the flashlight. The end of the tunnel was still unseen.

"Sam, I am part _turtle_. I won't drown. I won't let you drown either."

His confidence seemed to boost the boy's spirit a bit. Sam mumbled on his shell. "Okay."

Leo kept the top of his shell and head above the water all the time. It was ice cold water so he wanted to get out of it as fast as he can.

After ten minutes, they were inside the dark, humid tunnel. There was no moonlight like the other tunnel, the only light in here came from Sam's flashlight. He felt the boy shifted on his back and quietly observed him.

"You swim so fast."

"Swimming is natural skill for me."

"Can you teach me how to swim?"

His voice was so small and full of shyness. He knew this type of voice, it was from one little brother to big brother. Mikey always used it when he wanted something from him. Leo smiled even if Sam couldn't see. "I'd love to. But after we get out of this place."

"Okay," Sam replied. He was quiet for a moment then his timid voice broke the silence again. "Henry doesn't have time to teach me."

Leo quirked his eye ridge. "I'm sure your brother wants to teach you."

"I hope he will. But he's afraid I might drown. That I might try to swim on my own without his supervision."

It was his turn to be quiet. Part of him knew that Henry made the correct decision, but he knew that he should teach his little brother some skills to be able to survive by himself. Henry and he were doing the same thing: shielding their little brother from the whole world.

 _But that's not possible._

Leo gave a long exhale at that thought before he replied.

"He's just worried about you. It's not like he doesn't want to teach you."

"Yeah..." He felt Sam buried his face on his shell with a little dissatisfaction. "But you're not worried about your brother as much as he does."

"Huh?"

"At least your brother can swim. I can't do anything, not even getting myself out of the water."

He wondered what Henry did to make his little brother had a little confidence in himself. Leo didn't know him well, so he tried to give a neutral answer.

"That's because we're turtles," He sighed audibly when he thought about Michelangelo. "Mikey's capable of taking care of himself. Well, sometimes, I think."

"But you _trust_ him."

Four powerful words from Sam paused him. Somehow he felt Sam didn't talk about Mikey and him anymore.

"Sam?"

"I wanna be like you..." He whispered, tightened his hold on his neck a bit. "Can you turn me into turtle too?"

"Umm..." This conversation was getting more awkward.

"If I'm like you, I won't be a burden anymore."

Leo was treading water. He needed his mind to focus on their conversation before he went on further. "Sam, don't say that. You brother won't think you're a burden."

"How can you know that? He won't let me do anything. I can't do anything to help him. I'm useless."

The last word came straight from his heart, pouring his emotion out. Sam buried his face on his shell again. He felt the boy needed more than comforting words but he couldn't do much. Leo replied kindly, keeping his voice soft. "I'm speaking from experience. You're never a burden because you're the only family member he has..."

He paused at his own words. _That's right. Now I have only one brother…_

"Tell me, do you love Henry?"

He felt the boy nodded slowly on his shell.

"Then don't think you're a burden. Everything he did is for your own safety."

"I'll try." Sam murmured "Thanks..."

He remembered the boy's face when he let him help to open the wire door, giving a small compliment. He understood now that the boy was actually glad to be able to help with such a small task. It was something Henry hadn't given to him. The man was older than him, he was already adult, so sometimes he overlooked things his little brother wanted.

They continued in silence until he saw the collapsed tunnel ahead. He swallowed, if it was another dead end then he needed to find another way out. It would take more time to reach his little brother. Sam gasped when he saw a pile of debris blocking their exit.

"No way."

"Sam, I'm going to check underwater. How long can you hold your breath?"

"I don't know..."

"Okay, umm, I don't want to leave you alone so I'm going to dive with you. If you're out of breath just poke me and I'll bring you back to the surface."

The boy was weighing his choices. He didn't want to be alone, but he was also afraid of water. "N-no. You can leave me over there. I can hold onto the wall."

Leo lifted his palm to examine the brick on the wall, then he pulled shuko from his belt, pinning it on the wall. He gestured Sam to raise his hand. "Here, put your hand in it. It'll stick on the wall so you can stay above water. I'll be back."

The boy hanged on the wall, sighing. Leo helped him afloat then hesitantly released him.

"Okay. I'm okay." But his expression told otherwise.

"All right. I'll be back. I promise." Then he disappeared under the water.

Luckily, only the top of the tunnel was collapsed. He saw a hole large enough for both of them to dive through. A blue-green light dimming a few meters from his position. He calculated the distance and raised back to the surface.

"Sam, are you all right?"

"Yeah…" Sam heaved a sigh of relief when he saw him.

"It's only a few second diving until we can get to the other side. Can you hold your breath for that?"

The boy looked uncertain. "Are you sure?"

"Of course," Leo smiled. "Think of it as a basic swimming course. I'm going to show you the first step, okay?"

Sam's expression brightened when he heard it.

"Okay."

"Take a deep breath and hold it. Like this." He demonstrated the technique, inhaled and exhaled slowly. Sam complied with hesitance. Eventually, the boy held his breath and released it slowly.

"That's right" Leo guided him back on his shell, collecting shuko from the wall. "You ready?"

The boy inhaled and held his breath, nodding bravely on his back. This time both of them disappeared underwater. Leo dove further, kicking his legs rapidly until they reached the surface again. Sam coughed a bit, shivering.

"Leonardo?" Sam ducked his head, staring at the shadow above them.

This tunnel was intact, no more collapsing part, and he was right about the intersection. What he didn't expect was clickers on the dry platform. One of them staggered near the waterway, bowing its head down as if to see what was in the water.

It made a clicking sound at them.

He gritted his teeth.

* * *

Leo told him not to panic, but who wouldn't? When there were at least five clickers running behind him, you would scream.

"Ahh!"

Yeah, exactly what he was doing in past ten minutes.

"Michelangelo!"

His name seemed too wordy for this type of situation. Next time he would tell Henry just called him 'Mike'. Less syllables, less sounds. Henry was running behind him, making sure no clicker trying to grab them. He reloaded the gun and aimed at them. Mikey thought he had a terrible aim, a few lucky shots hit it in the head, but it was because he was panicked too.

And then he realized they couldn't run forever. The number of stairs and slippery ground slowed them down, while clickers had indefinite stamina. Shell, they didn't eat brains, they didn't eat anything, why did they have so much energy?

 _Okay, what to do, what to do…_

He could do it. He had to fight it. Henry might run out of bullets soon. He could-

He glanced behind his shell. The mushroom face was screaming at him.

…

No way he was going to fight close-range with those rotten mushrooms!

…

Oh. But he could fight while keeping his distance. Yeah, right, he forgot.

…

 _What should I do!?_

The sound of gunshots echoed through the tunnel, attracting more clickers. He had to think fast. But what could he do? He couldn't stop them without killing. And he won't kill humans.

 _Umm, what's that lesson again? The one that Master Splinter told him before?_

 _'Do not hesitate.'_

 _'We take no pleasure in killing.'_

Mikey blinked. _That's right. I'm worried too much. It's the same as trashing Footbots. And they're not humans. Not anymore._

He swallowed. _Not anymore… But I-I can't-_

 _Leo killed one of them in the sewers to protect you. This is your turn._

 _Leo…_

The thought of his big brother pushed all the reluctance away. If he died here, Leo would be alone. And Henry wouldn't see his little brother again. He stopped running. His eyes turned white. Henry skidded beside him and tried to grab his hand. But he was already gone.

 _My turn._

In an instant, he had nunchucks in his grip, switching into Kusarigama and twirling the chains. The heavy iron weight winded around the ankle of the nearest opponent. He yanked it and slammed the body into the wall. Not efficient way to stop it, of course, because other clickers were mindless and didn't care if some of them were down. They just kept coming.

He jumped swiftly to the wall, kicking off to the wide space behind the horde. In the mid-air, he threw the sickle at its head. The momentum sent the blade to pierce through its hard fungal plates, something in its head broke giving a sickening splash. The clicker made a sound like it was struggling to breathe, then it collapsed.

He tore the blade back, spinning the chains and wrapped it around the farthest clicker. The moment the chains connected, he gave a forceful yank, bringing it fell backward and rolled back, sweeping the others to the ground. Mikey pulled the chains back and leaped to the wall, spinning and striking the sickle at clickers. A second later he was back beside Henry before the man realized

"Wow," That was all Henry could say.

"I know, I know," Mikey didn't even break a sweat. He said with low voice enough for both of them to hear. "Boo ya. Ka sha."

* * *

Leo was kicking his legs underwater, making no sounds as he moved back slowly from the dry platform where the clicker stood. It didn't try to sniff or look at him, only made a clicking sound, trying to find him by using echolocation. Behind him, Sam gulped and tried to shrink himself.

He couldn't get his katana because Sam was on his back. He couldn't fight with the boy clinging to him. But it didn't mean he would give up. Clicker stood still like a sitting duck which gave him a lot of opportunities to kill.

Leo closed his eyes. He had avoided killing. He didn't want to kill humans. He didn't want to take a life if he could help. But if he didn't have a choice...

 _'Leo! Focus!'_

The corner of his lips lifted up at Mikey's words. _Yeah, focus on one thing at time: keep the boy safe._

' _Aim to kill.'_

 _'We take no pleasure in killing.'_

When he opened his eyes again, his pupils were gone, leaving only a frigid white color. Suddenly his right arm tossed above water. Sam gasped when he heard a splash, tightened his arms around his neck as a warning.

But clicker didn't move at all. With a shuriken stuck at its windpipe, it choked a few times before crumbled to the floor.

"W-What was that?" Sam stammered. From his view, it seemed like Leo killed it with mind power.

"It's one of my weapons. Come on, "

Sam climbed up from his shell to the platform, still watching the clicker on the floor with wary eyes. Once Leo climbed after him he pulled shuriken from its throat.

"You… killed it with a tiny metal plate."

Leo chuckled. "Seems that way."

"You are awesome. You gotta tell me how to be like you."

There was a bright light sparkled in Sam's eyes. It sounded like he earned respect from the boy, like how little one looked up at their elder brother. Leo couldn't help but smile. Sam reminded him a lot of his own brother when he showed them difficult moves. Back in the day, those were precious memories he cherished. And he just used one shuriken to impress the boy.

"I think we should start from basic stuff like teaching you how to swim first." He smirked but quickly turned serious when he heard the familiar sound. The katana were in his hands. Clicking sounds could be heard from the stairs above which meant there was more of them. Sam was already behind him, he was used to staying back when adults fought with those things.

When they reached the upper level, Leo could see at least ten clickers staggered around the narrow tunnel. There were tables and shelves and beds. It used to be living place, and people who lived here was somehow still in here, walking senselessly in the shell of their body.

"There're too many. Maybe we should find another way..."

Leo could practically hear a fear from the boy. But he could not back down.

"No. There's no other way. I can do this." The last sentence was meant for himself. He sheathed his katana. There must be a way to fight one on one without attracting the others.

He remembered back when Henry asked him why he didn't kill the guards. The answer was obvious, he didn't want to. But it was not the time to ask whether he wanted or not. He had to do it. Leo slipped Tantō from the hilt of katana into his hand. The opponents, however, did not feel threatened as it couldn't see him in the shadows. Two clickers were standing too close to each other but they hadn't made a sound as if they were tired, asleep, he wasn't sure. There was no way these things still had functions as humans. They were not human anymore.

 _Don't think they are humans. They are not. That kind of thought will make you hesitated._

He glanced back at the boy who hid behind the wall outside, staring at him the whole time. He turned to focus on the clicker that was standing away from the others. Leo walked stealthily to get behind it, trapped its neck with his arm, and delivered the death blow by slitting its throat.

The arteries were cut. He didn't know this thing still had blood. It made a choking sound which he quickly tightened his hold, lowering the body to the ground quietly. It was slow painful death.

 _It sounded too human._

He just realized his hands were shaking.

 _They are not- They are-_

He jumped back to the entrance when it gasped loudly for the last breath. A second when others heard the noise they gathered around the fallen one like they were mourning. But he knew it was not that reason. They were searching for the sound. They almost heard him because he was breathing way too hard.

His hand was still shaking. It was Sam who pulled him back behind the wall.

"Are you okay?" He whispered. The boy dared to speak. There must be something very wrong with him because Sam was always careful; the boy wouldn't ask him if there wasn't anything wrong with him. Tantō was still in his hand soaking in infected blood. He needed to get rid of it. He didn't ask Henry if they could get infected just by inhaling the smell of blood. He could ask Sam, but not now. Not until the rest of clickers died.

Leo met his eyes and nodded. Sam released his hand.

"Let's try again," Leo muttered to himself.

 _Focus. Right._

Frankly, he wasn't scared of them at all. But he was scared that he might get used to this idea, to kill without regret, to kill because he wanted to.

 _If there're still people inside, then I'm sorry._

* * *

Mikey thought that was all of them. Well, he was wrong.

The deeper they went on, the more clickers waiting for them. He just had to go straight from the tunnel to tunnel until they reached the other side. And where was Leo? Would he meet him before they got out of here? What if they were lost?

 _...Don't think, Mikey. You're never good at it anyway._

He sighed. Well, the only thing he could do was trusting his brother. Leo could find him, he knew it. And he told Leo to focus. So there was nothing to worry about.

He was doing fine with Henry. The man had experience when it came to clickers. Occasionally, he would spot it before Mikey did, telling him to get rid of it quietly since he almost ran out of ammo. Even after he saw how Mikey fought, Henry insisted on staying in front of him protectively. He didn't get it. He could take care of himself, at least he could fight them off without getting bitten. Besides, human body was weaker than him, so he thought he should be a frontline.

No matter how many times he argued, Henry wouldn't listen. He said it was out of habit. At least he could convince him to use 'Mike' instead of his full name 'Michelangelo'. Well, he didn't want to get bitten when Henry was saying his name halfway, 'Michelangelo! Michelange-ack!', or something like that. It would be a dumb way to die, having your name too long to call in urgent.

Another closed door. Henry was checking if there was a trap, while he was finding a button. No buttons for him pressed. Good. That meant no traps. He didn't want another big iron gate fell down to separate them again. He grabbed a doorknob and pushed the door carefully. But the moment he opened it, he set off another alarm. A dozen of glass bottle fell from the box above and shattered loud enough to wake the dead. The shards were scattered on the floor. He gulped. Cursed turtle luck.

"I-I-I..." He was expected Henry to scold him like any brother of him would do when he screwed up. But the man said nothing, looked a bit startled but not angry.

"It's a sound trap."

"R-Really?"

"I think this trap is sorta alarm to warn people here about intruders, not clickers. But it looks like nobody's here anymore."

Henry glanced at the warning on the board. A big 'House Rules' was written on it with details of protocol for entering and leaving the house. So it was definitely someone's home. There was another door on his right and Mikey gladly let him open it. The door was barricaded from the inside, metal was rusty and the wood was rotten, so Henry only had to kick it a few times to open. Mikey had to cover his mouth as the sight of the remains of adults and children at the corner. They were somehow still in human shapes, no sight of infection or growing mushrooms. They died while they were still humans.

"So… a group of people used to live in the entire sewers. Some of them turned into clickers. The rest been hiding in here, waiting for rescue..." Henry turned to search the room. Mikey still couldn't tear his eyes off the remains on the floor.

"Why them…?" He whispered.

"Some people thought they were safe in here. I guess they were wrong." Henry shrugged, but he frowned when he turned back. "Are you okay, Mike? You look a little pale."

Mikey sighed, staring at the floor. "This is… horrible. I'm walking in B-grade zombie movie."

Henry stared at him for a full minute, then his expression softened.

"Nah. You did pretty good back there. You'll be fine." He didn't know why Henry was draping his arm around his shoulder, pulling him close and back to the main tunnel, but he was grateful for that. He didn't have to look at those remains anymore. It was like he was comforting him in some way. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"My sensei! But I invent some original moves for my special attack too." Mikey beamed at the subject change.

"You have no problem fighting those things at all. I have no doubts you'll find the way to go back to your homeworld in no time."

"Well, actually I _have_. I'm afraid of them… They look scary. I never fight the opponents that try to chomp a piece of me before." He mumbled, once again being thankful that he wasn't alone. He didn't know if he could fight them alone. "I'm glad I have you, man. I can't pew-pew them like you do. Leo doesn't want me to use guns."

"Guess we make a pretty good team." Henry laughed as they continued to the next tunnel. "Besides, clickers are not something you should be afraid of. It should be humans."

Mikey blinked, not sure if he heard correctly. He remembered Leo also said the same thing but he didn't understand why.

And why he shouldn't be scared of clickers when he heard the clicking sounds again?

They both stopped dead when the sounds coming closer. He stood rooted to the spot, realizing it wasn't his imagination. Henry was the one who dragged him away.

"Ack!"

"Come on, this way!"

He regretted that they didn't run when the alarm set off. Of course, that loud noise attracted clickers. Mikey didn't have to turn around to see how many of them as their clicking, screaming sounds were louder than the last horde.

"There's too many of them. Run!"

 _Don't be scared, don't be scared,_ He was chanting inside his head, running side by side with Henry, getting nunchucks in his hands just in case, and hoping he could draw the same strength like he did in previous fight.

* * *

Leo snatched a rag from the shelf to wipe the blood off Tantō. He killed all of them one-by-one, they died in silence so they won't attract more clickers. Sam stayed by his side all the time, unfazed by the amount of blood splattering the floor when he slit its throat. Leo wondered if he had seen many horrible deaths in his life that a small number of dead clickers didn't make him scared.

They climbed up to the upper level. A few minutes walk and then they were back to the main tunnel. Leo stopped again to check direction. In this new area, he wasn't sure which way to go.

"You know a lot about this place." Sam's voice came quietly behind him. "Mike said you live in the sewers, right?"

He paused. Okay, since when they were close enough to use nickname? He knew they had talked when they were resting in apartment but he didn't know how much. Maybe a lot. He was busy planning the way out of the city with Henry so he didn't pay an attention. He needed a long talk with Mikey after this. If Mikey already told him about the lair, he might slip other secrets about them too.

He sighed inwardly, realizing his paranoia was working again. _It doesn't matter,_ he thought _. This is not our world. So he can know everything about the lair about and yet we're safe. I guess I'll let it go. Maybe Mikey just wants someone to talk to._

Finally, he started walking again. "Yeah. We have the lair under New York city."

"That's so cool. Is it safe?"

It was an odd question coming from the boy, but then again he guessed Sam didn't have the idea of permanent home. Henry and Sam never truly stayed at one place because there wasn't safe.

"Absolutely," He gave the boy a tiny smile. "I think compared to this place, ours is better. We have access to electric and hot water, and my brother set up the security system to protect our home. But I have to say people were doing their best to build home in here." He glanced at washing area on the left with expired detergent bottles.

"So that means you have to hide for something outside too?"

"Umm, yeah, well it's just us. Humans in my world don't have to hide. They can live normally on the surface."

Sam frowned. "You can't do that?"

"Of course. Because we look different...?" He thought the answer was obvious, but Sam shook his head.

"Well, yeah. But you speak, think, and feel like human. You are good person, unlike some bad hunters we fought. If your world doesn't have clickers then it's not fair for you to hide from normal life."

"It doesn't always work that way as long as people still judge on physical appearance."

"Those hunters are humans like us, but they're cruel, heartless monsters. A lot of my friends died because of them." Sam averted his eyes from him. "It's still not fair."

He patted Sam's back gently, expressing his gratitude to him. "It's all right, Sam. We're used to it. It's just something you can't change and you have to accept it eventually, so don't worry."

"You know, I'm not afraid of you. I was surprised to see you this morning but I know you're not one of them. You knocked them out and helped us." Sam said cheerfully. "I was wondering what you _are_ at that time."

Leo laughed a bit. But he paused when he heard faint noises coming from behind. He felt the boy tensed, and instinctively stepped behind his shell.

"Is that Mike's voice?" Sam asked.

Leo sighed with relief, but he definitely needed to talk with Mikey about stealth later. "Yeah."

Around the corner, Leo saw his brother and Henry running to them.

"Sam!" Henry was so excited to see his little brother but didn't stop running. He grabbed the boy and ran. Mikey, on the other hand, ran into him, half hugging and half pushing him to follow Henry.

"Leo! They're chasing after us!"

 _Oh shell._

* * *

The moment Leo started running, Mikey followed him. He couldn't describe how happy he was when he saw his brother, but he would save that moment for a later time. Twenty, no, around thirty clickers were running after them. Screaming and rattling whatever in their mushroom heads to make clicking sounds.

Henry and Sam were running ahead of them, Leo was the third, and he was the last. Dull pain kept coming up from his stupid ankle, telling him to stop. But he couldn't stop. _Stupid wound, you are closed wound now. Leo fixed you, remember? So make yourself comfortable and stop nagging me. Just get better already! It's just a simple run. You can do it._

And it replied. _No, I can't. I'll let you walk peacefully. I'm generous enough to let you jump around. But not running. You've been running for fifteen minutes now. I will not tolerate this!_

 _SHUT UP I CAN'T STOP NOW._

While Mikey was having a debate with his own ankle, he tripped over the first step of the stair. His plastron smashed at the edge of stair, it hurt so bad he couldn't move.

 _Oh. OH. This is what I'm thinking about. Cliché in horror movies. This is the way supporting character dies. Wait, I'm supporting character? I'm leading character! I can't die!_

He tried to push himself up, but then he saw one of clicker dashing behind him. Mikey got a full sight of its half head, teeth grazing. He didn't have time to scream, too shocked to even make noises.

 _No, no, no Leo's not being himself so he won't notice I'm still here. Maybe if I pull all my limbs inside the shell they can't bite me…. right? Uh, I don't want to risk myself for that. I don't want to know if turtle shell is mushie-proof or not. I-_

Suddenly there was a flash of blue and green and a sound of a blade ringing. Everything happened so fast. He held his breath in awe when he looked up and saw Leo impaled his katana on its chest so hard it staggered backward. He even heard Leo growled at it, wasting no time to kick it off. And when Leo pulled him to stand up, clickers' hands were crawling on his shell and arms but Leo knocked them off single-handedly. Mikey gasped when Leo dragged him to run again.

That was close, yes, but he was safe now.

And he told his closed wound to shut up finally. Everything was good.

Henry opened a door waiting for them, and when they went through he immediately blocked the door with wooden table. It would hold them back but not for long. They ran to upstairs, realizing they were close to the surface and would be out of the sewers in any minute. Finally, Henry and Sam found the exit door in maintenance room but they couldn't open it.

"Damn it! It's stuck!" Henry kicked it but the wooden door didn't budge. Leo jumped across desks and chairs in the room to help to them.

"Let's push it together!"

Mikey rushed to the door and pushed with all his might. It was stuck, but he felt it wasn't because the door was locked.

"Something's behind the door." Henry was still panting from running, trying to find another way to get out.

"I-I can go through that window above the door to push it away. I can help." Sam's voice was low but determined.

The next words from Henry made the boy flinched. "No! You're just a child. You can't do it by yourself."

"Stay back!" Leo told them and drew his double katana out to destroy the door, turning half of it into scraps of wood. Now they could see a large metal cabinet blocking their exit. Henry cursed.

"What the hell!? Why did they block the exit?"

"Let's push again!"

Mikey glanced back at the entrance and started panicking when he heard clicking sounds. Leo looked back at him and decided to switch place, he pulled Mikey close to the man.

"Mikey, go help Henry."

"O-Okay."

They pushed and kicked furiously at the large metal cabinet. It moved, the sunlight beamed into dark room, but the gap was still not wide enough for humans and turtles to go through. Behind him, Leo was slashing those things, holding the horde of clickers back by himself. He turned and leaned his back on the metal cabinet and pushed, so he could keep an eye on his big brother and pushing this thing.

The cabinet creaked, Sam was the first one who went go through the gap despite Henry's protest. The boy tried to clear the obstacle outside as much as possible. It helped to push this thing a little bit easier. His gaze focused on Leo again. Leo turned into a storm of green and red as he danced around slashing and cutting their limbs off. The ground painted in red and black with the falling clickers. He was glad to see Leo back to himself, fighting and moving with unwavering determination. But bloodshed wasn't his thing, and it made him uneasy to witness it, so he kept pushing.

"We got it!" Henry yelled, getting attention from Leo and him.

They pushed the heavy cabinet one last time and dashed through the gap, then they quickly pushed it back to the same position and ran.

* * *

"Huh. Fresh air..."

Henry relaxed as they were walking in the forest, far away from the sewers.

"That was close..." Leo exhaled, relieved.

The man stared at Leo for a moment and grinned. "You know, after I saw your little brother saving me back then I don't have to worry about Sam anymore. He's in a good hand."

"Ha! You saw my awesome turtle moves. But it's nothing compared to Leo's skills, right bro?"

"Umm..." Leo looked a bit embarrassed at Mikey's exaggeration. "I just do what I have to."

"Thank you, Leonardo," Henry said sincerely, holding Sam close.

Leo smiled. "Thanks for looking after my brother too. I hope he didn't give you any trouble."

"Hey! Saving life is not a trouble. I did a good deed." Mikey pouted.

"I know."

They continued walking over the hill to the resident area ahead. Mikey looked below to see a set of brown house roofs. He hadn't been out during the daylight much, and if he was he usually saw the tall building in New York, so the view of small town fascinated him.

Mikey glanced back at his brother. Now the nightmare in the sewers was over, he wanted to give him a hug. Actually, he wanted to tell Leo that he argued with his stubborn ankle and won, but that could be told later. Right now he wanted to spend time with his big brother. He _missed_ him. He was glad to have his brother back. Mikey hadn't seen him in _hours_ and now it was almost noon.

Leo raised his eye ridge when Mikey gave him a nudge.

"Hey, Leo." Mikey made a hand framed gesture to the tall radio station far behind the town. "One step closer to the Kraang."

Leo followed his gaze for a moment and saw their destination. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, washing away the dreadful feeling from the situation a moment ago.

"Yeah..."

And Leo did something that made his heart leap, he smiled.

Even if they were tired as hell, there was still a hope. Mikey grinned and put his arm around Leo's shoulder as they began to walk together.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Thank you for reading and sorry for long chapter. The length of each chapter is vary, depending on how I want it to end. And this is chapter 9... I think for writing first fanfic I should keep it short. But this is chapter 9 and still ongoing... we're not even on the half way yet omg I'll try to finish it.

I update this chapter when I'm in the hotel. Next week I'll be very busy and I may have to travel, so I'll probably be late for next update.


	10. Spring: Chapter 10

**Warning:** a very small thought on suicide.

* * *

"ICE CREAM TRUCK!"

Leo slapped his hand over his forehead. He really, really needed to talk to Mikey about stealth.

Although he could sense that the town was completely abandoned, he didn't want to risk the team to encounter the infected again, at least not until they reached the radio tower. Henry said he was okay but he could tell the man was beyond tired since they traveled through the sewers entire night. Sam looked worn out but he kept walking, following his brother. Leo himself was also tired of staying alerted the whole time. Until now he had still scanned the surroundings for the enemy.

The town area was less chaos compared to New York city. There were fewer cars on the street, and most of the houses were intact. No sight of human or infected so far. He raked his hand across his face. Staying cautious all the time definitely consumed his energy. On the other hand, Mikey seemed to have infinite stamina and had been bouncing around the street, moving to look closer at the tree he'd never seen before or inspecting an ice cream truck with flat tire.

"Mikey, remember your training. We're in the enemy territory, so we must be careful." Leo chided exhaustingly. "You don't want those things coming to us again, right?"

"Okay..." He looked down for a moment. Just a moment. Because Mikey quickly came up with an idea. "But can I open it? Maybe there's some ice cream left."

Sam overheard them and decided to join in. "What's ice cream?"

"You don't know it? I'll show it to you!" Mikey stuck out his tongue from the corner of his mouth, planting his left foot on the truck and right foot firm on the ground. Then he pulled a door open. Fortunately, the whole process caused a little noise.

"Mikey!" He frowned at little brother who was now ransacking for desired sweet. Leo was pretty sure freezer cases were broken long time ago. Whatever in that box must be something worse than melting ice cream.

"Come on… We've got to try." Mikey took the empty box into his arm. Of course, there was no ice cream in it and the box had some obvious black spots on it. "Well, I've eaten algae before, how harmful is a little mold."

At that statement, Sam was watching him with wide eyes. But Mikey ignored him. He was about to taste long lost ice cream in the box when Leo rescue it from his embrace.

"No! Don't lick that! It's been here for _two_ decades, even your iron stomach can't take it. I don't want any of us to get sick because we don't have Donnie here."

He originally brought up Donnie just to make Mikey listen to him, but part of him felt that he needed to show that he was no longer holding a grudge. Mikey was actually sober at their brother's name. He stared at Leo for some time, blinking. Before he came up with another excuse. "Okayyyy… But is it okay to eat canned food?"

The frown on Leo's face deepened. "Well, at least it's sterile."

Good ninja knew when they cannot win the fight, so Mikey sighed defeatedly and climbed out of the truck. "Ugh… I want real foods. I'm _starving_..."

"Sorry, Sam. I can't show you what ice cream looks like. It's very cold and sweet. Hmm..." Mikey placed his hand on Sam's shoulder, hanging his head sadly. He was too distracted to see the shock that still remained on the boy's face. "I miss Ice cream Kitty..."

Leo threw the box away carelessly and followed his brother. Sam decided to walk beside him and whispered. "Is he okay?"

"Well, yeah. I guess it reminds him of our mutant cat," He tilted his head to the ice cream truck, feeling a bit sad when he thought about home.

Suddenly, Mikey discovered a new thing to lift up his spirit. He ran after small wild dogs that playing in the middle of the road and said happily.

"PUPPIES!"

"...or not," Leo mumbled.

"His voice is loud..." Sam couldn't help but comment.

"That's Mikey for you."

"Henry said if I make loud noise I'll be killed." Sam continued while looking at Mikey chasing two wild dogs, Henry followed him and told him to be careful. "How come you never scold him for doing stupid things?"

"Actually, I did, like, on a regular basis," Leo said with tired voice.

"Not in the way Henry scolded me."

Leo didn't know how to reply that. He heard what Henry said back when they were stuck in maintenance room but decided not to comment about it. Tears began to form in the boy's eyes. Leo didn't have to ask why; Sam was back into the rough words from Henry in the maintenance room again.

Leo looked at the end of the street where Mikey stood and watched the dogs behind the fences. Henry stood behind him.

"Sam," Leo grabbed the boy, but Sam refused to meet eyes. "Sam, look at me."

Sam lifted his head slowly, meeting the round blue eyes. "He said that because he cares about you. I can tell you there're a hundred ways for big brothers to show their love. Come on, Henry will think I make you cry. He's going to punch me for real."

Despite tears flowing, the boy laughed. "Oh yeah, he will. But it was fun to see him get very angry, you know."

Leo grinned. "Now you make me scared of him."

"You don't have to be, you can fight back!"

"Oh, I don't know. From the past experience, big brother can be really scary."

"Hey, what're you two doing?"

Henry called them from the stone steps, trying to see what they were doing. From his angle, he couldn't see Sam wiping the tears from his face.

"Nothing." Sam and he answered back simultaneously.

"O...kay?" Henry raised his eyes brow but didn't press the issue. "Let's check that house for a sec."

They followed Henry to the next area. The street was blocked and they had to go through the house to find the path. Sometimes Henry entered the house to find bullets or supplies. Leo joined him and noticed that there were some traces indicating humans were here not long ago, like alcohol bottles on the table. He heightened his sense for any movement, but it seemed that this place was clear.

But something was not right, he could feel only three presences including himself. He ran to the outside and found no one in the street. The wild dogs were gone, and so was Mikey. It was the first time he felt panicked. "Where's Mikey?"

Then all of a sudden girly scream pierced through the area, conveniently answering his question.

* * *

 _(Ten minutes earlier...)_

A moment ago he was trying to play with the dogs, but when they saw him they ran away. So he did his best to follow them and stopped only when Henry told him not to go further. He looked through the fences to see the wild dogs barking playfully at each other before disappearing behind the woods.

The corner of his mouth was turned upwards at the scenery. It was a nice break after the big fight, and he was going to savor every serene moment. He turned back to Leo but stopped halfway when he saw his brother holding Sam's shoulders. They seemed to have an earnest conversation so he just stared at them. But the random thought struck him.

 _Why is Leo holding Sam like that? We're out of danger now._

He felt it again. The dark mood he had before entering the sewers last night, and the craving of attentions were back again. Mikey averted his gaze from them and pouted.

He felt they treated him as if he wasn't little one anymore. Although he was ninja so he was capable of taking care of himself, he wanted to remind them that Sam wasn't only one little brother around here.

He stomped off, thinking if he didn't see them together he would cool down. He didn't know why he acted likes this. He hated it, but he couldn't help it. He was already inside one of abandoned houses when he realized something.

Just like when he unintentionally asked for Donnie to be here, he also secretly sought for Leo's attention.

They had human friends before, like Casey and April, but it felt like they were an extension of their family. When they came into their lives, he didn't feel like they were trying to replace someone.

Here, with Leo holding Sam, it felt like he was being replaced. The boy around his age who had protective big brother just like him was a reflection of himself. Whenever he saw the boy with Leo, he thought Sam fit perfectly in his position.

At first, he felt numb.

Conflicted, too. He knew Leo was just being Leo, trying to lift up the boy's mood after the incident in the sewers. He also knew that Leo wouldn't stop caring. His big brother _never_ stopped caring because he believed there were still some good people out there. Despite the fact that they were hurt by humans, people like April or Casey made it all worth it.

But he also felt sad for no reason. He should be glad that Leo took a role to take care of their human friend, but he couldn't bring himself to be happy about it. He _knew_ that he didn't hate Sam. The boy was considered the first little brother who shared the same position as him, and he liked playing with him.

And then he felt depressed even more. Mikey thought he was terrible sibling who was jealous for no reason. Why couldn't his brain think rationally about it? Sam needed Leo more than him.

 _But he already has Henry. Why should he need Leo?_

 _Well, of course he wants Leo. Henry's grown up and he won't understand Sam very well. He's so strict._

 _Oh, your beloved, kind big brother is what he needs. You know, Sam doesn't need you as well._

 _I'm not Leo, okay!? I can't take care of anyone. Shell, sometimes I even suck at taking care of myself. It's the truth. No one wants me..._

Mikey was having an argument within his own mind again, but this time he felt he was losing. It was irritated since he already won against his ankle, which was now throbbing slightly from the long walk. He didn't realize which house he entered anymore. He just wanted to cool off. Mikey unconsciously got to the second floor and entered one of the rooms. He found out later that it was a bathroom.

When he glanced around, he found two bodies in a bloody bathtub. It appeared to be filled with blood and had two bodies in it. The sticky red liquid remained inside the tub. The disgusting smell hit him like a truck and caused a headache instantly. The unexpected sight combined with his own distress inside his head made him scream. Screamed because of fear, shock, or just for attention he didn't know, but he had to let it out.

He would have applauded at Leo's light year speed. A second later someone was pulling him back, shielding him from the bathtub. One katana already unsheathed and ready to attack, before Leo lowered it when he saw no physical threats.

Mikey was shaking behind his big brother's shell, keeping his gaze on the broken tiles on the floor. His lips were trembling when his brain finally registered what he had seen. It wasn't normal death. They _intended_ to kill themselves together. This was worse than seeing human got killed in the city. They _gave up_ ; that thought alone made him feel sick.

"Mikey..." Leo's voice was full of concerns, knowing he wouldn't take it very well.

"That's the easy way out."

That was his first thought. He realized he said out loud.

Leo quirked his eye ridge and shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Whatever." He pretended not to care, that seeing two people suicided didn't disturb him at all. His mind still derailed from previous thoughts. Now he also had a picture of dead people stuck in his head. His head was going to explode soon.

"This dimension is giving me the whole year of insomnia. I probably won't sleep for _weeks_." Mikey gave a bitter laugh, still not meeting his brother's eyes. "Well, on the bright side, I can watch all horror movies when I'm back home."

He felt Leo shifted and lowered himself behind him, touching his leg. Mikey stiffened as three-fingered hand contacted his ankle. "Umm, bro?"

"Your ankle is swollen. Why didn't you tell me about it?"

He was glad that he turned his back to Leo because he didn't want to deal with discomfort he would get from Leo's gaze. He didn't want to add more stress to his poor brain right now.

"But it's okay. I don't feel it… Ow!" Mikey grumbled. "Okay, I jumped and ran too many times in the sewers so it got worse."

Leo opened his mouth to say something but Mikey interrupted him, waving his hands rapidly.

"No, no, nuh-uh! You can't tell me to stay behind. We only have two turtles here. And, and… err- I still have to watch your back!"

 _Yeah, well, you're doing a pretty good job since all you did was just seeking for attention._

Mikey mentally slapped himself. He would have a debate with his mind later.

Leo blinked and chuckled, then he guided him out of the bathroom. "I wasn't going to say that. I just want to wrap it."

 _Oh._

He simply nodded, embarrassed. The next room was the old bedroom with a desk and battered computer. A plain sight of large, old CRT monitor brought him back to Donnie's lab which made him calm down a bit. Even now he had clung on the thought of his best buddy rather than big brother in front of him. Mikey felt like a terrible brother, so he sat down obediently. Leo slid his backpack off his shoulder onto the floor and brought up a roll of bandages.

While watching Leo doing his work, he murmured to himself.

"...You should go back to Sam."

"Huh?" Leo's head lifted up, not catching his words.

"Nothing!"

Leo stared at him for a moment as if to analyze his expression. Mikey tried the best to offer a reassuring smile but failed. When Leo thought he wouldn't get direct answer from him, he sighed. "Just don't use your left foot too much and you'll be fine. Tomorrow I'll remove stitches for you."

 _Right. If we reach the radio tower without running into clickers, which is impossible I think, then I'll heal._

"Everything's okay?" the pair of human walked to the door. Henry put his hand on his waist, looked a bit concern. Sam was right behind him, craning his neck to see what happened in the room.

"Yes. It's nothing." Leo answered, swinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"You scared us for a second. We're lucky that there's no one in this area."

Although Henry said with low, normal tone, something about being adult making him feel like he was getting a lecture. Mikey gulped inaudibly.

"I'm sorry… it won't happen again."

Leo's gaze was currently drilling the back of his neck, but he refused to turn back to him. Of course, Leo knew something wrong with him, he just didn't ready to talk about it. Sam looked at him while he walked out and went downstair. The boy followed him to the living room.

"Hey, Mike? You wanna play darts? I found it here."

Sam called out for him, but Mikey pretended he didn't hear the boy. He just wanted to be alone for a while. Heh, now he was grumpy Mikey. This was wrong, Michelangelo shouldn't be grumpy at all. It wasn't one of his fortes.

 _But I can't help it,_ He thought sadly. _I don't want to be like this but I can't help myself._

"What are you doing?" Leo's voice followed him from behind. _Oh great._ He wanted to shrink away and hide, leaving Leo and Sam in the room.

"Hey, I remember you throwing small metal star when we're in the sewers. Is it similar to a dart?"

"Well, not really. But the concept is the same."

When Leo came into the room, Sam seemed to forget about him. Both of them forgot about him and it _hurt_. He knew he was to blame when he didn't answer the boy, but it still hurt anyway. He looked towards Henry who was waiting outside the room, eyeing his own brother. The man seemed to be very protective of Sam even if they were having fun.

He flinched when Leo tapped his shoulder.

"You said you have the best aim" His voice was soft, oblivious to jealousy in his head. He placed a dart on his palm and took him to the position opposite to the dart board. "Come on, let's try."

"Err… Okay." Mikey said reluctantly after seeing Sam's smile. Leo was trying to cheer him up by bringing him back to play with the boy. Perhaps Leo thought he was depressed because of the bodies on the second floor.

He wanted to scream at him and tell him it wasn't, but he couldn't do it. To venting out some of his disturbance, He threw the dart as hard as he could, not caring where it went.

The dart stuck deep in the wall, not even close to the board at all. Leo blinked, not believing what he saw.

"Whoops. I think today my aim is a little off." Mikey smiled sheepishly.

Leo turned to look at him, his expression hardened because he didn't believe the king of water balloons would fail to aim the simple dart. "Are you _okay_?"

"Of course!" He said a little too fast, and escaped from the room before his brother could ask any question. Leo and Sam looked at each other, confused.

* * *

"Is he really okay?"

Sam asked quietly after they left the house. Henry was leading them back on the street, Mikey stayed beside with him.

"I don't know. He's always afraid of dead people. That's one thing I can't help him. This place is full of dead people, some can walk and some cannot." Leo sighed.

"Oh..."

They were walking together. Sam occasionally glanced at his own big brother and Leo, then he reached out to hold Leo's hand. Leo was a little surprised but then he gave a smile.

"Henry said I'm too old to hold his hand. But I saw you did it. Maybe you should do it with him again."

Leo smiled at that thought.

"Yeah, it'll surely help. Mikey's kind of special. He's still far from… a normal teenager, to say at least."

"I think Mike is really lucky to have you."

He was baffled at random statement. "Umm, thanks?"

"I don't know how you do it, but you're nice big brother."

Leo was quiet for a moment, his gaze shifting between the man and Mikey. Then he asked Sam back.

"Can you guess my first thought when I arrived at this world?"

"...I don't know." The boy didn't seem to interest in the topic, or perhaps he honestly didn't have an answer.

"I was afraid I couldn't protect my brother. This world… is really different from ours. One mistake and we could die." Leo clenched his fist, closing his eyes for a short period, clearing his mind. Then he turned to look at Sam. "I think Henry feels the same way."

Sam was deep in thought. "Maybe you're right. You know, this is my first time out of quarantine zone. When we're in Hartford zone, we have foods and our own room. There're no infected or hunters in the area. It's actually peaceful life, no need to run or hide." He bit his bottom lip. "Henry taught me how to use gun though, he said it's the most important thing I have to know."

"When did you learn to use a gun?"

"Ten." Sam shrugged. "I shoot only when necessary. Still have to work on my aim."

Leo's gaze lingered on the boy for a moment. He learned how to use weapons but he never killed. The idea about this boy younger than him already killed someone made him feel uneasy.

 _But it's normal thing in this world_ , He thought. _A trait that we need to blend in eventually._

* * *

If Henry ever wondered why Mikey was walking with him instead of Sam, he hadn't shown it, which made the turtle grateful. He just wanted to stay away from both of them, thinking what the shell was wrong with him. Mikey convinced himself that he didn't _hate_ them, so what? What should he do to get rid of this feeling?

Perhaps the man was a mind reader because he tilted his head and asked him out of the blue.

"What's the matter? You seem to be in the bad mood."

Mikey pursed his lips. It was nice to talk to someone other than two certain people in his mind, so he gave in.

"I don't know how to explain it. I just-I don't want to see them talking."

He hoped Henry didn't get offended, he was sure he didn't hate Sam. The good thing about being adult was to read through the expression. After Mikey finished, Henry glanced at him and chortled, shaking his head.

"Wow, don't tell me you're jealous."

"Am not!" Mikey countered a little too loud, earning a glare from the older man, but he wasn't affected by it. He doubted Henry's wrath was anywhere near Raph's, so he continued. "Ahh! I understand now why Leo was soooo angry with me when I mentioned Donnie."

Mikey hid his face in his hands. He felt like he was jealous of their new sibling.

The realization was unwelcome, but he was glad that now he knew about it. This feeling was uninvited, but it helped him learning the source of his problem. He didn't want Donnie to be here, he just missed him. The feeling of not being good enough was back, just like Leo told him the other night, Mikey felt he wasn't good enough for him.

He wondered why Henry didn't feel the same way. Perhaps he was grown up and thought for the best of his little brother's happiness, so he didn't mind when Sam being around Leo all the time.

The idea of growing up gave him an alarming sense. He hadn't thought about it before because they just got everything back. Of course, they were on the journey, but in the end they were back to the lair as if nothing changed. Everything was back to its place so there was no need for him to change. He thought Leo had changed slightly. Was it because Leo grew up? But he was still the big brother Mikey knew.

...Maybe Leo _did_ grow up as he shared his kindness with people around him, not only the family members. But Michelangelo was still a goofy ball like he was several years ago. Come to think of it, he hadn't changed at all. His perspective of the world was the same. He wasn't sure if he should step up to next level, becoming adult and all that jazz. But he recalled the time he reasoned with him several nights ago Leo seemed to be proud of him. So maybe he should grow up, like his big brother?

 _But I don't want to,_ He thought. _What will Raph and Donnie say if we get back home with two Leos instead of Leo and me? That's ridiculous! I don't want to be Leo, but I don't know how to grow up. If I'm grown up, I can get rid of childish feeling like jealousy. But I don't want to… The idea of sharing was new. Sharing his brother, is that even possible?_

 _...Ow, my head hurts from thinking too much._

Henry must have looked at him for a long time because he could read all of his thoughts and made final, correct conclusion. "Wow, you've never met other children in the same age?"

"Umm, no, I think. There's only four of us." Mikey counted the number using his fingers, which required two hands because he didn't have enough on one hand.

"We also have April and Casey, but April is a girl and Casey always goes with Raph." His face brightened when he thought about friends. "I play with Leatherhead sometimes, but he's much older than me."

"So you mean you have three brothers? And three pals?"

"Yeah..." He looked down at the ground and kicked a small rock at his feet. "Raph and Donnie are lucky. They didn't fall into the portal like us. They're safe back home."

"Alright. So you've never played with other children much." Henry assumed, which was again correct. Their group would always consider a small one as long as he could count all his friends with _two_ turtle hands. "You know, Sam has a lot of friends back in the quarantined zone. They hang out all the time."

"And you're not jealous?" It seemed like a stupid question to ask the adult, but he wanted to know, no, _hear_ from big brother.

"Why should I? They're having fun together. At the end of the day, he'll come back to me." Henry said dismissively. "And the most important thing is he actually makes the boy smiles"

He pouted. _Great. Now Henry was on their side._

Henry pulled him close like he did back in the sewers and laughed. "Come on, Mike, don't be like that. I love his smile. If Leo can help him, I don't see why I should intervene. Besides, do you think he will like Sam more than you?"

 _Oh… that's what I thought too. Is Henry telepathic?_

"Well… Sam is like an ideal little brother. I mean, he listens to Leo. I sorta ignore him most of the time. And I always screw up everything..." His hands were fidgeting and his eyes fixed on the ground.

Henry patted his bald head. "You're his brother. He loves you anyway."

Now that he heard it, the words were like an anchor to keep him believing it, not swaying by random jealous thoughts. _So this is the idea about sharing brother? Like sharing toys to play together? Because, in the end, they'll return toys back to me… Well, I can live with that._ His rounded blue eyes looked back at the man, smiling.

 _He'll return to me..._

"Yeah..."

"No offense but even if he wants to take Sam, I'd never allow it, never." Henry continued jokingly before changing to serious tone. "I'm grateful that you guys saved our lives more than once, and I kinda like you two. It's difficult to find good companions, you know, even more rare to find talking turtles too."

Mikey laughed, clinging to the man. Henry wasn't strict as he thought before. He was kind, funny too, like normal big brother, like Leo. "Wow, being adult like you is awesome. You always know the right thing to say at the right time."

"Nah. It has nothing to do with being adult or a kid. If you love them you will be happy for them."

They continued talking about other things, mostly about his brothers back home. He told him a lot about Donnie's stuff and Raph's bad temper. But what made the man surprised was that his father wasn't a turtle like the rest of them, he was a _rat_.

Time passed, and now they could clearly see the tower behind a few houses. Henry was walking down the stone stair with Mikey following closely.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you not like us playing?" He said timidly, holding a ball from his backpack. "'Cause I found another football. Can I play with Sam?"

Henry looked over his shoulder, remembering the episode in the sewers. "I don't have a problem with it. I just mind about _where_ you play it."

"Can we play when we reach the tower?"

The man sighed, knowing he couldn't win. After all, he had seen Mikey arguing about ice cream with Leo before. "Okay, okay, fine."

Mikey practically beamed. "Yay! We'll have an indoor sport. Thanks!"

 _Big brothers are awesome!_ He thought while running back to Leo and Sam with the ball in his hands.

* * *

"Hey."

Leo smiled at him, Mikey grinned back.

"Hey yourself."

The bright blue eyes were no longer clouded by sadness. Mikey was certainly back to be himself, bouncing and excited about the football, so he decided to ask.

"So, how are you feeling?"

Mikey stopped right in front of him, a smile still plastered on his face.

"Great! Henry lets me play football with Sam too!"

"Heh. It's a good thing we found them, right? He's helping my little brother and I'm helping Sam."

Mikey paused, looking at his big brother. Leo was still oblivious about the whole Sam-is-better-little-brother-than-me thing, and he would keep it as a secret forever. Now he didn't have that feeling anymore. He knew he loved his brother, and he liked Sam too, so he was happy to have both of them.

"They're good people," Mikey said quietly. "I can't believe we still find them in this horrible dimension."

Before Leo could respond, Sam walked towards Mikey and asked him.

"Henry said you have something to show me?"

"Yes! This!" Mikey gave him a full view of dirty plastic football in his hands. Sam looked at it with wide eyes.

"Wow! Where did you find it?"

"From the play yard behind that house! I asked Henry already, we can play when we reach the radio tower! Have you tried indoor football before?"

Two boys were too excited to notice that Leo slipped off and walked back to Henry, who crossed his arms with a content smile on his face.

"Thank you, Henry. I neglected to see what troubled him, so I'm glad that you helped him."

The man shrugged. "I didn't do anything, actually. That kid figures it out himself."

"Still, I owe you."

Leo offered a bow to him. Henry just raised an eyebrow, not used to see such a gesture. He did, however, awkwardly bow his head back to him, thinking it appropriate.

"You take care of Sam for me, so we're even," Henry replied back, tilting his head. "Let's go. The radio tower is close. We have to reach it before sunset."

Mikey and Sam were still talking about how to play it. Warm feelings filled up their hearts at the sight of happy little brothers. Leo couldn't stop his smile. He heard Henry mumbled something.

"Well, there'll come a day when kids can just be kids again."

* * *

 **Author's note:** I actually divided this chapter into two because it's too long (but I haven't finished the second part so please wait...). Now one of Mikey's issues is unlocked. Actually, I don't have a problem with new sibling lol. I remember I was always excited to meet new sibling. But I have met someone who was really jealous of their newborn brother/sister, so I decided to give it a try with Sam being a figurative sibling.

Note that the last sentence is from the game script.

I'm going to next trip this weekend, so hopefully I can stick to the Thursday update. Thanks for reading!


	11. Spring: Chapter 11

**Warning:** Beware of suicide idea.

 **Author's note:** Most of the conversations near the end are taken from the game script.

Just finish reading IDW#62. Love Raph and Mikey's bonding time. I like how Raph tried to be calm then Mikey said 'You sound like Leo' and then he exploded lol.

* * *

Mikey felt relaxed in this particular magic hour. When the sun dyed everything in gold, clouds parted, allowing some sun rays to reach the town. The view was so beautiful, washing away the ill feelings he had about this dimension. He spent a few moments before jumping down from the balcony, landing perfectly in front of Leo and Sam who were having a quiet conversation in the garden. This could be a nice evening stroll if he didn't hear Leo reminded him to be careful in case infecteds came. Yeah, they were in the different dimension, far away from home with ugly mushroom heads everywhere. Mikey snorted.

"I didn't make a noise. Besides, those things are like white belt level. They're no match for us."

Leo frowned at his comment, not approving when he took lightly of the situation. "That's not true. We're not invincible."

"Zombies don't have brains, bro. They can't fight strategically. With your plan and my impressive skills, together we can conquer them all!" Mikey ended with dramatic pose which earned a giggle from Sam. Leo realized that his little brother was just fooling around so he sighed.

Henry was walking back with more canned foods in his hands and called them to continue walking, the boys followed him. Even if the humans stayed with them for a while now, Sam still had loads of questions for them.

"What's your world like?"

Mikey tilted his head. "It's the same actually. We have New York city too, minus the catastrophe. Our world is where humans and mutants can live together forever and ever."

Sam looked at them in awe. Only Leo knew Mikey was exaggerated.

"What's mutants?"

Leo coughed. "Mikey."

He put his hand behind his head and said awkwardly. "Sorry. No spoilers."

This topic seemed interesting enough that Henry decided to join in. "Hey, do you think we can go to your world?"

Leo raised his eye ridge, didn't expect this question. He pondered and replied carefully. "We have the human in our world too, so I think it's okay."

"If we find Kraang, you can go back to your world, right? We want to tag along if it's possible."

Leo and Henry continued their conversation about the difference between this dimension and their world, leaving both little brothers to follow them from behind. Mikey caught the boy staring at his big brother's shell with great respect.

"Your brother is kinda cool," Sam whispered to him, and Mikey smiled.

"That's Leo. Of course he's cool. The coolest brother you can have."

"You're very lucky then."

"Hey, Henry's superb too." Mikey nudged him playfully with the elbow, remembering an advice he got from the man to let him overcome his troubles.

"It's not that I want to compare who's better bro. He's just… different from Henry." Sam returned his gaze on Leo's back. "He's kind, tough, and willing to place himself between me and those things. He has a lot of patience too."

 _Well, he probably practices it with me every day._ Mikey thought. He was impressed that Sam had learned a lot about Leo in short period. But then again, Leo always had this kind of effect on everyone around him. He hooked his hands behind his head and continued walking.

"So, what else do you want to know?"

"Umm, did you really mean it when you said you used to eat algae?"

Mikey heard Leo coughed again.

* * *

He should have known the peaceful time was over. He should have seen this coming.

Mikey tried his best to put the football into his backpack. The result came out rather comical as the top of backpack had a round shape of the ball. It looked as if Mikey grew another head. He hoped he had a marker so he could put a smiley face on it to make the round shape became _'a real face'._

Some time ago, Leo said they were in the enemy area, but the town was quiet and peaceful that they began to forget about his warning. They were really close to the radio tower and would get there before dark, so they hadn't expected the ambush. Mikey was the first one who walked down the stone stair. From distance, anyone could mistake a football inside his backpack as a head, which was a good thing because the sniper mistook it and fired at the ball instead of his skull.

A bullet, which he knew because he heard it piercing through the air a second too late, hit his shell from behind. There was a loud pop from plastic football when it hit, meaning the bullet went through his backpack, the ball, and then his shell. Mikey yelped. The impact was hard enough to send him to fall from the stair. It hurt so much he couldn't get up.

Still lying on the ground, Leo quickly jumped after him and dragged him to the nearest car, hiding from the sniper.

"Hunter!" Leo gasped.

"Damn straight. This kind of people is everywhere." Henry gritted his teeth, crouching down behind the car with Sam next to him, his gun was ready in his hand. "Can you tell how many?"

"One sniper, I think. Most people are on the ground." Leo heard the hunters taunting about the car wouldn't protect them forever. He suppressed anger that boiling inside him and focused on his little brother. "No bleeding. Good. Mikey, talk to me. Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Ow… No. Saved by the shell. But it hurts so bad. Are you sure there's no hole in my shell? I feel like the bullet's still stuck in it."

Leo bit his lip, removing Mikey's backpack (full of foods and water and toys, mostly toys) and fumbled over his little brother's carapace. He didn't want to perform surgery. Actually, he didn't want his little brother to get hurt at all, if possible. The shot was a close call. He didn't want to imagine what would happen if Mikey didn't pack the ball. "No, it bounced off, which is good."

"At least I can prove to Raph that our shells are bulletproof." Mikey managed to smile.

Leo glanced over the car and made a quick decision. They couldn't stay here for long. He knew he could take all of them with a sneak attack. "Mikey, you stay here with Henry and Sam. Distract them as much as you can. Don't let the hunters come near you."

"What about you?" Mikey scrambled hurriedly on his knees.

"I'm going after the sniper, and all hunters in this area."

Mikey swallowed. That meant they must be separated again. They always got separated in the worst moment. He knew Leo could take them all. They were white belt level. They won't stand a chance against the master of Ninjitsu like Leo.

"I'll be back."

 _Say something,_ Mikey thought. _This is a scene in a blockbuster movie where they have to say something meaningful to each other because they don't know if they can make it out alive. Ugh, I hate bad kind of cliché, and I hate being melodramatic. We'll be fine!... right?_

But he found that he couldn't utter a word. Leo was about to run off, but he looked at Mikey one last time and patted his head. Mikey blinked. A second later Leo jumped off his sight, climbing the tree and disappearing behind the red brick roof.

Now he realized he was the only one they could rely on. Henry could fight, but he was not as good as Mikey, and Sam could only hide behind them.

 _Okay, what's Leo told me? Distract them. Yeah, I can do it. A piece of cake,_ Mikey told himself, gripping on nunchucks. Hunters kept throwing taunts at them.

 _"It's those damn tourist from the city!"_

 _"Thought you could get away from us, huh!?"_

Mikey quickly jumped behind the nearby car. If he was going to distract them, at least he had to be sure that Henry and Sam were on the safe side. One hunter shot at them and tried to get closer. But then a mysterious chain lunged at him out of nowhere and wrapped around his ankle, sending him to fell on the ground.

"That's a payback for my shell!" Mikey shouted back.

 _"Is that green clicker from the city?!"_

"Geez, how many time I have to say I'm not a clicker! Do I look like I have a mushroom growing on my head? I'm a turtle!"

Obviously, those hunters didn't care, so Mikey focused on kicking and hitting whoever came too close. Then he heard an engine sound. Mikey craned his neck and found that an armored combat jeep was coming toward them. The machine gun on the jeep started shooting at their hiding place, and the car gave a jolt from the impact.

 _Isn't that a bit overkill!?_

"H-Henry, is that a tank?" Mikey yelled, tempting to pull his head into his shell to avoid the bullets.

"Oh shit." Henry stopped shooting and lowered his head. "They must have stolen it from the military."

Mikey wanted to take a good look at the jeep, but Sam warned him before he could stick his neck over the car.

"Mikey! Look out!"

A bullet from the sniper scraped the car hood. Mikey ducked his head in time.

"Ow, thanks, Sam." Mikey smiled at the boy, then he turned to Henry. "I can fight hunters but not the tank. What should we do?"

The man's expression was mixed between seriousness and fear. "We need to kill the driver before-Damnit."

"What?" Mikey squeaked when he heard a faint clicking noise from his ultimate nightmare. "Clickers?! Here? Now?"

"The noises attract them. They'll come here soon. We've gotta move!"

"Dude, we're out in open. I can't hold them off." Mikey was close to being hysterical. He hastily observed the surrounding for their exit, never loosening his death grip on his weapon and thinking how to get them out alive. He wasn't used to be in charge of the action. That was Leo's department, and sometimes Raph's. But he feared that if he didn't do anything now they would be doomed. So he pointed at Henry.

" _You_ need to move. I-I'll distract them. I know bad guys always follow me."

As expected, the man argued back. "No, there's no safe place here. You can't hold the jeep and those things at the same time. We have to stick together."

Perhaps it was a sincere touch behind his words that made Mikey felt like he was arguing with his own brothers. He calmed down a bit, thinking it must be a big brother's effect from Henry.

Then Sam's voice brought him back.

"Hey, you noticed? That sniper stops shooting already."

"Leo," Mikey breathed, grinning widely, knowing that his brother had accomplished on getting rid of enemies just like he said. "Then at least we're safe from random bullets."

True to his big brother's words, there was no hunter running to them anymore, meaning Leo got all of them. The thought about his brother boosted his confidence instantly. Now it was his turn. Only two problems remained: the armored jeep and clickers. The machine gun kept shooting at his position. He was sure the car which became his shield would be destroyed soon.

"Henry, get out of here before clickers come. I'll go to say hi to the driver."

Henry looked about to protest but then change his mind. He still didn't like an idea of Mike facing the jeep alone, but he knew that Mike was the better fighter and had more chance than him to take it down. So he just nodded.

"Be careful, Mike."

"I always am!"

Mikey rolled to the next car to get out of the shooting range and quickly sneaked behind the jeep. Using a little shade of shadows provided by the trees and houses, he jumped on the commander hatch, hitting it loudly.

"Stop it! Whoever you are! You make too many noises! Clickers are coming because of you!"

"What the hell, kid? You're even louder than us." As planned, the hunter inside opened the hatch with a gun in his hand, but he startled at the sight of a green creature named Mikey grinning at him. "What-"

Not wasting a time, Mikey swang the nunchucks and hit the hunter's temple before he could pull the trigger. Then he kicked the human back into the combat jeep. It was a bit cramped inside, but he managed to slip in.

"Hey! What are you-!?"

"Stop the tank!" Mikey kicked the driver in the face, sending him to collapse against the controller. "Thank you."

There was only two person in the combat jeep, so his task was done. Except the man's face was on the steering wheel, the tank didn't stop and drove forwards until it crashed into the nearby house. Mikey's head hit the metal piece inside, his sore shell slammed into the control panel.

"Ow ow ow." He got up and rubbed his head, a small red stain was on his palm. Groaning, Mikey hoped the cut wasn't too large and would stop bleeding soon. Then he heard a clicking noise outside.

 _The crash must attract all of them,_ Mikey thought, panicked. _It'll be one shell of a party outside._

Mikey climbed out of the hatch painfully. His squinted eyes caught the movement behind the rusted car.

"Henry? Sam?"

The person revealed himself behind the car, it was one of those things, and it didn't come alone. Three… four… nine… twenty… at least _thirty_ clickers emerged from the shadows and ran into this area. They were disoriented as soon as the noises ceased, yet they ran around out of instinct to find some noises. Mikey widened his eyes and thought this was a high time to get _real_ panicked.

He jumped to the ground, standing unsteadily because of his injuries. His once defeated ankle began to complain again. Mikey still felt a bit dizzy from the crash, but he prepared to attack any clicker that came too close. He didn't have to wait for long. A clicking noise came from the side, and when he turned he saw a human face distorted by the fungus plates all over its head.

It was different from the fight in the sewers where he had the advantage from climbing and kicking off the walls. Fighting clickers in the open area was difficult since those things could come from any direction. In the wide space, he couldn't avoid fighting at close-range as clickers ran to him so fast.

He was about to hit its head when Leo stamped on that clicker, impaling its skull with one of his katana effortlessly, giving an instant kill. Mikey was surprised at his brother's sudden appearance. Leo didn't say anything as he summoned a shuriken and threw behind Mikey, hitting another clicker that ran straight to him. Their second weapon only slowed them down, so Mikey sidestepped and smashed its head, sending it to the ground.

"You okay?" Leo panted heavily.

Mikey saw some blood on his brother's face and arms, but he couldn't see any wound. Probably not Leo's blood. Mikey hadn't come down from his hysteria yet so he only gave a nod. At least Leo was back, he didn't have to be scared anymore, right?

"Where are Henry and Sam?"

Suddenly their heads whipped toward the direction of the shout. Mikey startled and quickly gained his composure. Leo was already on his feet, following Henry's voice and using the katana to clear his way from clickers. Mikey ran after him but screeched to a halt when he heard Sam's voice from another direction.

"Sam!"

Clickers swarmed all over the place. One of them was on Sam's back. He ran at full speed to reach him.

 _'We're not invincible._ '

Leo's words came through his mind. Mikey shook his head.

 _I hate it when Leo's right. Well, he's always right. I'll stop joking about these clickers._

He could throw a shuriken, but it won't be killed easily by a small metal piece, and it won't get distracted by a small metal star. Switching to Kusarigama, he sent the sickle through the air, directing into its head and pulling it back. The blade cut through the hard plates on its head. That clicker jerked back and released Sam.

Mikey helped the boy to get up. Other than a minor scrape on his elbow, Sam looked fine so far. The boy looked very frightened even after the clicker was dead.

He hadn't seen the one that coming from behind, knocking him to the ground, going face first into dirt and grass. He heard Sam yelling. The rotten hands were crawling aggressively on his shell. He was frozen in fear, too terrified to lift the sickle in his hand. Maybe this was the best time to try pulling all limbs into the shell. Maybe the clickers would leave him alone. Maybe... _Get it off, get it off, get-_

A gunshot rang two times, causing two clickers on his carapace fell off him. He raised his head to see Henry, unharmed, running to him. Leo wasn't far behind as he killed three more clickers on his way. Mikey drew his breath at the sight of his own brother, reaching out for him.

"Leo!"

His big brother grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. Mikey wanted to hug him, telling him he was so scared, but he knew that they needed to get out of here first.

"There're too many of them. We have to quit this place." Leo told Henry, letting Mikey clung to him. "Is everybody okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." His voice was trembling, his back hurt, but he would tell Leo about it later. Now Mikey wanted to go anywhere that didn't have clicking noises.

"We're good," Henry replied, holding Sam close. "Let's get out of here. We're close to the tower now."

Together they ran to the wooden fence toward the radio tower. Leo stayed behind to make sure no clicker followed them. He glanced back and thought about how Leo stayed adamant even when they were in the middle of massive zombie-clicker horde.

 _Maybe that's why he's our big brother,_ Mikey thought.

* * *

They found plenty of clean water in the tower. Someone used to live in here and collected rainwater into large plastic bottles. Leo took one of them and a rag he found to clean himself. Before he started the process, he sat still on the floor like he was meditating, recalling what he had done today.

Mikey took a peek at him and reluctantly tiptoed into his personal space, settling himself beside him. When Leo opened his eyes, he met bright blue eyes full of worries. Mikey shifted uncomfortably and tried his best to offer a smile. At first, he was confused, but then he realized his little brother was nervous because he wanted to help but didn't know what to do.

And more importantly, Leo knew Mikey was weighing his options whether he should go or not because he was afraid to approach his big brother.

Since Mikey waited for him to start a conversation, he decided to ask. "Do you want to help me?"

Mikey nodded eagerly and took a rag from him. He watched Mikey poured some water on it. He didn't know there was blood on his face until his little brother began to clean his face first. Closing his eyes, he allowed Mikey to rub his face. Having a familiar presence around wasn't too bad, it helped to relieve him from cruel memories today.

"You know you can come to me anytime." He said it with his eyes closed.

"Y-Yeah," Mikey gulped. "But I don't know if you want to meditate alone to clear your mind."

 _That's excuse. You've never had a problem jumping at me before,_ Leo thought. "You still can come to me."

There was a long pause between them. Mikey was still rubbing his biceps with the rag but didn't say anything. He opened one eye and saw Mikey grinned cheerfully.

"Is that a permission to bug you anytime I want? Like, _any_ time?"

Under normal circumstance, he would scold him and tell him to mess with someone else, but for once he would allow him to do so. After all, they had only each other. He should know no matter what happened Mikey would be the same old Mikey. He probably had to kiss his privacy goodbye. Leo sighed. "You could say that."

"Awesome!" Mikey continued his task happily, but he stopped when he reached his plastron. "Umm, did you get hurt anywhere?"

"No, it's not my blood," Leo averted his eyes. He didn't want to explain why he got so much blood on his body. He didn't want to explain why he _killed_ humans today. "What about you?"

"I'm fine. No bleeding, just a scratch. Henry checked my back for me. Clickers can't bite my shell, well _maybe_ they tried but I'm glad they couldn't. And last time I checked you can't get infected by the scratches. The infection will happen only when you get a bloody wound from their sharp fangs..."

He leaned to his brother and mimicked its sound by clicking his tongue repeatedly. Leo grabbed his face and pushed away with a smirk. Mikey rolled away and laughed before gathered himself back to the same position. Then he did a very serious face, holding up three fingers (which were all he had in one hand) in a scout honor style.

"All right. Fine. I won't make a joke about them anymore. It's kinda creepy to see them running around today. I'll admit that click-click sound scares me to death."

Leo caught a hint of fear in his voice as he stared at his little brother. A wave of guilt washed over him. "I'm sorry for getting back to you so late."

Mikey shook his head. "It's cool, dude. Don't worry, I won't let them think the baby brother of Hamato clan will go down without a fight."

"You did good," Leo told him, caressing his little brother's cheek. He caught a small blush on his face before it disappeared quickly. Mikey ducked his head and continued cleaning in silence. After he finished on his plastron, he moved to his carapace.

"You know what I was thinking when we fought them? I thought Raph should be here. He must love a hardcore challenge like kicking a bunch of zombies and destroying the tank." Mikey stopped cleaning and tapped his chin, thinking. "What do you say? I fought the tank and came out alive. It went KA-BOOM! but I'm still in one piece."

Leo chuckled. "It's not really the tank, you know. More like an armored jeep."

"Details, details." Mikey shrugged, rubbing a last red spot on Leo's carapace. "'Tank' sounds cooler. Hey, don't forget to tell Raph that I fought the tank and won!"

The conversation flowed normally as if they were in the lair. He didn't want to admit it, but it felt nice to have Mikey here. If he came to this dimension alone, he wouldn't know what to do. To be truly alone in the foreign place, he would have gone mad.

His track of thought was interrupted by Henry who poked his head into their room. "Are you done? Let's come to have dinner."

"Foods!" Mikey threw the rag away and ran after the man. Leo rolled his eyes. Typical Mikey.

He frowned when he didn't see Sam joining their dinner in the room. "Where's Sam?"

"He already ate and went to rest in the room. I guess he's too exhausted to play with you." the latter referred to Mikey who was holding a bowl of canned soup. Mikey's eyes widened, he pushed the bowl into his big brother's hands and ran to the bedroom.

"I'll go to check on him!"

"Hey, hold your horses." Henry opened his mouth to say something then he changed his mind. "Just don't wake him if he's sleeping."

"I won't!"

They watched Mikey carefully opened the door and slipped in. Henry smiled, putting his hand on his waist. The man pointed a spoon at the door.

"I've learned from someone that I shouldn't say 'no' to that kid."

Leo stared at the bowl in his hands, still impressed that his brother left the food and went to play with Sam. "I apologize. Mikey is single-minded when it comes to his friends."

"Friends, huh? Sam probably thinks about his friends right now." Henry shook his head slightly and said quietly. "I don't think anyone from our group's gonna show up. Worst part about it all-explaining it to Sam."

Leo turned to look at the man. It wasn't like Henry gave up, more like he was accepting the truth. Their journey from the city to the radio tower wasn't easy, and they probably won't make it without the help from ninjas.

"He'll understand, and he still has you." Leo reminded him. Henry nodded slowly. They sat down on the floor and had dinner quietly. The man seemed to be lost in his thoughts, so Leo decided to tell him about what he had learned from Sam to distract him from the loss.

"When we were in the sewers, Sam told me many things." Henry perked up at his own brother's name. "He's really concerned about you and scared when you have to fight alone. Sometimes you can let him help, just a small task is fine."

The man put down his spoon and sighed. "It's not like I don't trust him, but it's been so long since we're in the normal situation."

"You're a team," Leo explained. "Just like Mikey and me. I know it's not a fair comparison because Mikey can fight, but you have to give him a chance."

"Okay, I'll try." Henry looked at him with amusement, "Is that what you're talking about the whole time? About me?"

"Not really. I merely gave an ear to him so he could tell me his problems. He was pretty upset when we were in the sewers."

It seemed that Henry knew what he did to make his little brother upset. "Damn."

Leo gave him a reassuring smile. "Mikey can be a real handful too. But you're family, I know you can work it out."

Henry observed him for a moment before giving his comment. "You know a lot about how to deal with little brother."

"To put it mildly, I have two little brothers back home and we have… very _different_ personalities. So yes, I have a lot of experience." Leo bowed his head a little when he thought about Donnie and Raph. He couldn't deny that he missed them.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Is it possible for us to go to your world?"

Leo remembered this question back when they were walking in the town. He tilted his head. "I don't see why not. If we find the Kraang, we might have a clue about the portal."

"I want to take this kid anywhere but here," Henry confessed finally as if he waited until Mikey and Sam weren't around to express it out loud. "If your world is totally opposite of this nightmare, I want to give him a second chance to live."

Leo stared at him for a long time. Understanding why Henry wanted to speak with him privately, he gave a nod. "Alright. Let's find Fireflies together."

* * *

Mikey closed the door quietly, not wanting to wake the boy. But he found Sam was still awake, the boy was sitting on the chair, arranging their canned foods on the table. Mikey walked toward him and asked. "Are you mad?"

Sam was startled a little, not expecting the question. "Huh? About what?"

"I'm sorry our football got destroyed. We can play something else." Mikey mumbled timidly.

"I don't wanna play, Mike." Apparently, Sam was in a bad mood. He asked him irritably. "Did Henry send you?"

"What? No." Mikey blinked. "Why would Henry send me to see you?"

"To make sure I don't screw anything up again." The boy crossed arms on the table and rested his cheek on them. "Henry said I always screw up"

Mikey put his palms on the table, keeping his voice low. "I can feel you, man. That's story of my life. But I think we all did pretty good back there. Nothing bad happened."

Sam winced. Mikey raised his eye ridge before the boy got up abruptly and went to the window.

"Uh… Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

Mikey wasn't sure why the boy was moody. _It must be the football,_ He thought. He could practically see a bright pink neon sign with the words _'I-don't-wanna-play-today-just-leave-me-alone_ ' hanging on Sam's head, so he thought it might be the best to let him sleep. After all, they could play together tomorrow before heading to Fireflies' base.

"Umm, well, then, good night."

He turned to leave, missing his food already. But he heard Sam's voice before he could reach the doorknob.

"How come you're never scared?"

Mikey turned to face him. Sam was acting weird but he didn't know why. "Umm… Dude, I'm sure you heard me _scream_ all the time. Of course I'm scared."

Sam shook his head in annoyance. "Not about those dead bodies. You're not scared to jump into the fights."

"Because I'm a ninja. We fight Foot-bots, triceratons, and Kraa-I mean, alien robots before. I guess it becomes our instinct to be ready for battle."

"But are you afraid of clickers?"

Mikey cringed. "Well, yeah, they're super creepy, right?"

"You're scared, but you still fight them." It was a statement. He began to worry about their serious talk. It was like Sam had changed after the fight. The boy continued to shoot a question. "Aside from those things, what else are you afraid of?"

"Squirrelanoid!" Mikey answered without missing a beat. It was Sam's turn to look confused. Obviously, the boy didn't know what it was. Mikey didn't want to explain about Squirrelanoid so he tried to change his answer. "And… umm… the reason I fight even though I don't like mushroom heads because..." He trailed off, thinking very hard to come up with a decent answer.

Then he realized he already knew the answer.

"Because I have to go back home no matter what. Because I… I'm scared of ending up alone." Mikey said finally, and then he cleared his throat nervously. "Yeah, that's my answer. And you?"

"I…" Not finishing his sentence, Sam pointed his finger to the window instead. "Those things out there. What if the people are still inside? What if they're trapped in there, without any control over their body?"

Mikey blinked. He never had this kind of thought before. His sense told him that those things were bad guys so the good guys could bash their heads freely. He knew he didn't want to accept it, he didn't want to think that they killed a dozen of trapped humans today. It didn't feel right. "There's a theory in zombie science. It said something about they might still look like people, but that person is not in there anymore."

"What if you're wrong? They might be inside… I'm scared of that happening to me." Sam met his gaze for a moment then he stared at the floor intently.

Mikey spread out his arms. "Hey. Don't worry. Just don't think about it. We're going to help each other from now on. And you said you want to come to our world, right? So we're going to find the Kraang together."

"I want to visit your world..." Still, not meeting his eyes, Sam whispered to himself. "I really want to, Mike."

He stood awkwardly, wondering why he couldn't comfort the boy. It seemed something deep inside the boy's mind troubled him and Mikey couldn't figure it out. He decided to solve it in his own way. Reaching out to his backpack, Mikey picked up the Kraang's mark he got from the robot.

"You know what? I'll give you this." He put it on the table. "This is from my world. Back home I have a lot of action figures. This is not really a figure, but you can play with it."

Sam looked at the mark without saying anything, so he took it as his cue to leave. "Okay, gotta go now. See you in the morning."

He hoped the boy would be in the good mood again in the morning. Mikey would make sure to remind him that being little brother didn't mean they would _'screw up'_ every time.

Mikey didn't know that Sam threw the Kraang's mask on the floor when he left, not caring about playing anymore. Then he walked back to sit down on the chair, tugging his pants and looking at a bite mark on his leg. He got it from clicker when they were attacked on the street. The wound was still bleeding, which was a sign of the first stage. It would never close and continue to bleed until the host was fully turned. Sam looked at it with a fear in his eyes, hoping he could make it til the morning.

"I really want to go to your world, Mike."

* * *

Mikey was the last one who woke up. He rubbed his eyes and turned around to find his own brother. Leo was standing near the window, admiring the morning sunlight. Henry was cooking for them using a picnic stove.

"Good morning." It was Leo who turned to greet him. Mikey mumbled something incoherently as a response. He was not an early morning person and couldn't function until he had breakfast.

"Hmm, fooods." He sniffed toward the pot. Henry smiled at his silly act.

"Hey, Mike, do me a favor and wake that kid."

"Okay!" He sprang to his feet and ran to Sam's room. Opening the door widely, he called the boy with enthusiasm. "Morning, sunshine! Breakfast is ready!"

He found Sam stood in the middle of the room, making a choking sound. Mikey walked slowly at him, thinking that maybe he had a bad habit every morning, or he was sleep-walking.

"Uh, Sam? You okay? Dude, you act a little weird."

Then the boy lunged at him

* * *

Mikey was screaming.

Leo wondered if it became his routine to scream every day, but he pushed aside that thought as Mikey screamed inside the room. It meant the enemy was here in the tower. He grabbed his katana and ran to the door. But before he opened it, the door swung out as Mikey's shell slammed on it.

"Sam!"

He tried to find the sight of the enemy but he found none. Then Mikey yelled again, squirming under Sam's weight. Leo couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Sam straddled his little brother, trying to gnaw his way through Mikey's guarding arms.

"Mikey!?"

He gripped on the hilt of katana. Leo couldn't bring himself to hurt the boy, even if he was turning and trying to hurt his brother. Henry was too shocked to move as he couldn't take his eyes off Sam. The boy who he had protected since birth turned into a monster he despised, a mindless clicker.

"Ahhh! Help me!"

Leo hesitated, but Mikey's voice brought him back to the reality. He steeled himself to stab the boy, possibly on the area where he would be less painful. But before the blade touched the boy, Henry shot at a space near his feet as a warning.

"Stop! That's my fucking brother!"

Suddenly he was channeling Raph. His little brother was calling for him. _How dare you come between Mikey and me?_

"No..." His low but deadly voice directed at the man. "That's my brother too."

He turned away, ignoring Henry who was pointing the gun at him. He didn't care anymore. He had killed humans before. This was just another corpse to add on his list, but he found himself shaking.

 _This is Sam I'm going to kill. He's not the hunter from the city, he's not the sniper, he's just a kid..._

When Henry shot again, he braced himself for a shot. But he realized that this time Henry aimed at his own brother, killing Sam on the spot.

As soon as Mikey was free, he shoved the boy away and threw himself at Leo squeezing oxygen out of his lungs. He whimpered on his big brother's plastron.

"Mikey! Are you alright?" Leo felt his heart pounding as Mikey shook his head rapidly. Then his tearful eyes glanced back at Sam who was twitching on the floor.

"No way… Sam..." Unable to hold his tears, Mikey cried on his plastron. Leo only put his hand on his little brother's back to soothe him.

Henry whispered slowly in despair. "Sam… Why? Why-"

Everything happened so fast. Half an hour ago, he was talking to Henry about their next destination, laughing together when they shared the stories from their home. Now Henry was forced to kill his own brother, and the gun was still in his hand.

"Henry..." Leo knew the man was emotionally wrecked and he must try to calm him down in any way he could. "Henry, please, put the gun down."

The man didn't move. He pried Mikey out of him, but Mikey only tightened his embrace.

"Leo!?"

"Mikey, stay there." He said quietly, trying to get out of his death grip. Mikey involuntarily released him and stared at him the whole time. Leo used his soft voice to approach the man. "Please, listen to me, Henry."

"What have I done…?"

"Henry, I'll get that gun, okay?" Leo moved toward him carefully, but he froze when the gun was now pointing at his head. "No..."

"This is your fault..."

Like an ice blade piercing his heart, he was speechless for a moment.

"It's nobody's fault, Henry." He whispered.

"You let this happened!"

"I-I didn't know he got bitten."

"This is all your goddamn fault!"

Henry's shaky voice kept getting louder and louder. Leo swallowed, knowing Mikey was looking fearfully at his shell from behind. He couldn't die here, not by the hand of their companion. And he couldn't let Henry shoot Mikey too. Leo stood bravely in front of his little brother, hoping he could reason with the man before it was too late.

But he hadn't expected Henry to do something recklessly. Even with his speed, he couldn't prevent it from happening.

"No!"

Henry turned the gun on himself, and shot.


	12. Fall: Chapter 12

_(Two days later...)_

It was another bright and sunny day with a cool breeze. It was warm and Mikey liked it. So he was glad they were walking down the main road to… _somewhere_. To be honest, he didn't know where they were heading to, he just followed his big brother.

He didn't know where he was aside from the fact that they were several miles from New York city. Where was _here_ anyway? Leo was the one who carried a map and didn't explain anything as he led Mikey to the main road, telling him to follow. They started walking and didn't stop for an hour, not that he was tired, but he was clueless about the destination.

At least today was a nice day to take a walk. For two days, they had prepared everything they needed to survive on the vacant road, including their garments. Mikey wore a red short-sleeved scotch shirt, a black fedora, and a sunglasses on his head. He was still looking for an underwear, though. All of his items were in a good condition, but none of them were matched, making him look ridiculous. Mikey claimed it was a new trend from New York anyway. He also added that they weren't used to sunlight and needed to protect his sensitive baby skin, which made Leo rolled his eyes.

He offered to help with Leo's fashion but his brother wisely turned down. Leo just collected the clean clothes and sewed a grayish long cloak similar to the one he had during their training in Northampton. He also made a new bow and arrows for hunting. The sheaths hanged on his side. So it was obvious that their styles clashed. Mikey didn't care much.

With the road full of trashes and abandoned cars, his brother's back was the most interesting sight compared to the surroundings. His eyes traced the floating bandana tails on his brother's back like a cat playing with a prey wand. But if they were going to find the Kraang, it would take a lot of time to reach their destination on foot. And he needed something to entertain himself other than watching the blue bandana tails.

Mikey started with a simple question.

"So, where are we going?"

Leo didn't stop or looked back at him. His gaze fixed on the empty road ahead with a map in his hand. "I heard that Fireflies and Kraang are in Colorado. We'll start at that place first."

"Colorado? How far is it?"

Leo finally showed him a mark on his map. Mikey stared at it, then looked at New York city on the map, and looked at the mark again as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Uh, you know that it'll take _months_ to walk there, right?" He asked slowly.

"I'm afraid so. We don't have a vehicle," Leo huffed, pointing at the pile of cars on the side. "Unless you know how to fix one of them."

"Dude, I know I spend a lot of time around D, but I'm not going to take his reputation. Fixing things is Donnie's specialty."

"Why not? Last time you played in his lab, you created a super retro-mutagen."

"...Did you just encourage me?"

Leo shrugged. "There's nothing to lose here."

Mikey wasn't sure if Leo just made fun of him. He looked at the row of cars and tempted to do a miracle on them, but he realized without a tool he would waste their time. "Nah. I don't want it to explode in my face. Just look at them, they're all expired. It'll need ten Donnies to fix one car here."

There was a tiny smile on his brother's face, a rare one since they left the town.

"It'd be nice if he's here..." Leo mumbled and turned to face him. "Since we don't have a luxury, I think we have to go on foot only. We won't get lost if we follow the main road."

Mikey made a tired face. "Walking huh. Is that the only option? We'll grow old before we reach there."

Leo looked over his shoulder, quirking his eye ridge. "It's just a month if we make it quick. You said you want to practice a trip, so just think this is a good chance to do it then."

Mikey looked thoughtful for a bit. Suddenly, he beamed. "Leo, you're genius! That means I'll have a whole month with you and you alone! I'll have the privilege to snuggle you every night!"

"Yeah, and I'll have to stay with you 24/7." Leo rubbed his forehead, thinking about headaches he would get from his little brother. "I'll have gray hairs before we reach Colorado."

"You don't even have hair, Leo." Mikey snorted, taking the first privilege by draping his arm across Leo's shoulders. "Don't worry! You are with the right turtle! You'll never get bored!"

"Thanks. I feel so _lucky_."

They continued walking side by side. Mikey took a time to enjoy the trees and the sun. Not every day he could walk under the sun freely like this, and he probably had _months_ to do so. This began to feel like the real vacation. But it was too quiet. He glanced at Leo who took a job checking the map with the serious face. If Mikey was going to turn this trip into the vacation, he had to loosen his brother up a bit. He broke the silence with a second question.

"Do you think Raph and Donnie will come after us? To this dimension?"

"I hope not. But if they do, I already left a message about where we are going."

"Oooh." _That's why he's our leader,_ Mikey thought. He didn't think of that.

"But we don't know if they can follow us to this dimension so we can't wait for them. We have to find the Kraang too. I want to know what are they up to."

It was a good plan, finding the way home and learned about the Kraang in this world. He could live with that. It just needed a little tweak to add some funs in the plan, like visiting tourist attractions on the way.

This time, Leo started the conversation.

"Mikey."

"Hmm?"

"Since we're going to have a lot of time to spend here, we should continue our routine."

"Huh? What routine?"

It was Leo's turn to beam. "Training, of course. And meditation."

Mikey groaned. Of course Leo _insanely_ loved training. He should know there was nothing to stop his brother even if they were in another dimension. This time he would have to suffer. Alone.

 _This privilege sucks._

He tried to argue miserably. "How can we meditate? I thought we're in a hurry. We'll spend too much time sitting and not going anywhere."

Surprisingly, Leo seemed to ponder on what he said, which was rare because his brothers hardly listened to him. He tapped his finger to his chin and answered thoughtfully. "I've heard of _kinhin_ , a walking meditation. We can do that instead of sitting."

" _Kinhin?_ How to meditate when you're walking?"

Mikey seemed to interest about it so Leo happily elaborated. "It's easy. You have to allow your awareness to be with your body, focus on the sensation of breathing and keep attention on the rhythm of the walking. You don't have to close your eyes for the whole process."

"Wow. You've tried it before?"

"Yes. What we gain isn't the deep meditation, but we use the experience of walking as our focus. Walking back and forth to become aware of things outside of ourselves."

"Wow… That's nice." Mikey was impressed until he asked. "But if we keep going back and forth, how can we reach Colorado then?"

"..."

Leo opened his mouth to give an answer, but he sighed and let the subject drop. For now. At least he was certain he got Mikey's attention about the trip, not the incident that happened two days ago…

* * *

 _(Two days earlier...)_

 _Leo could only shield his brother from the sight of Henry's body, holding him close to his chest, blocking the scene from his innocent mind. However, he couldn't tear his eyes from Sam who lied on his back, blood clogged on the side of his head. His skin turned brown as the fungus virus grew inside him. This was the first stage of infection, and it took less than a day to turn the child into the demon. Unconsciously, Leo tightened his embrace, seeking the comfort from his crying brother. Finally, he dragged his gaze away. With the smell of copper lingering in the room, he couldn't get rid of the image inside his head._

 _Henry's body was behind him, while Sam lied in front of him. He couldn't escape._

 _They were dead. Their friends were dead._

 _He couldn't believe this was real…_

* * *

"NO!"

Leo jerked away from his thought and turned to his brother abruptly. "What happened!?"

"This is not true!"

Leo wasn't sure if it was one of Mikey's breakdown, but when he saw a comic book in his hands he sighed heavily. Mikey would give him a heart attack soon at this rate. He asked anyway.

"What is it?"

"THIS!" Mikey waved the comic up and down. "Can you believe this!? It said 'to be continued'! How can I find the next issue here!?"

"..."

Now he knew what Raph felt when he smacked his little brother's head. As much as he wanted to do it, Leo kept his hands to himself and tried to ignore him.

But Mikey shoved it into his face. "Look at him, Leo! Silver Sentry is super cool! We should have this comic at home. Can I keep it?"

He heaved a sigh, pushing it away. "As long as it doesn't take much space in your backpack."

Mikey squealed with joy. "I wonder if they have a cartoon about him. He's as cool as Crognard."

"No one is cooler than Captain Ryan," Leo said absently.

Mikey turned to him with wide eyes, before grinning mischievously.

"What did you just say, _Da Vinci?_ "

"Keep reading and be quiet, _Michelangelo_."

He turned his attention to the road while Mikey laughed. He would let his little brother enjoy in his own world for now.

Mikey still got excited about the new comic he found. Eventually, Leo told him that he couldn't carry them all and need to throw some away. So Mikey only kept his favorite books and stuffed them in his backpack. Occasionally, he would check the rusted car near the traffic rails to find something to read and then throw away later.

Although Leo preferred a peaceful trip, the lack of his brother's voice started to unsettle him. He didn't realize there would be the day he wanted Mikey to talk because back in the lair he _never_ stopped talking, but since there were only two of them here he had to keep an eye on him. Hearing his voice constantly would make him feel better.

"Wow..."

Leo tilted his head. Mikey found a new book and kept making a weird sound like that for past five minutes.

"What are you reading?"

When Mikey didn't answer him, he turned to his little brother. When he saw what he was reading, he snatched it out of his hands and blushed madly.

"Hey!" Mikey frowned at him, but he didn't care at the moment. Leo took a quick look on the magazine, still blushing.

"Where did you get this?"

"In a pick-up we passed five minutes ago." Mikey crossed his arms, not amused. "That's rude, you know. If you want to read just ask. I'll gladly give it to you."

"I-I don't want to read it! We shouldn't read this kind of book!" Leo spluttered.

"Why? Is it because they have creepy pose in it? It looks uncomfortable with her tiny clothes and all-"

"MIKEY!"

"Umm, sorry?"

Honestly, Mikey felt like he did something wrong but he didn't know what it was. He bet if it was Raph he would be more than happy to read with him. Leo still didn't throw it away, but the way he touched it like it burned his skin made him curious.

"Do you know why there're only girls in that magazine?"

"NO."

Mikey blinked, stepping back and held his palms up. "Chillax, dude. I take a look at it because I missed her."

"Who?"

"My beautiful angel, of course." Mikey clasped his hands together and made a sound like a purring of a cat. "Ah, I wanna see her again. I miss her so much."

Leo stared at him for a moment before replying with a flat tone. "Playboy reminds you of Renet. Right."

"But she's so cute! The girls in the magazine are cute too, except their weird poses. But after a few pages I think Renet is prettier than them. I mean, her big round eyes shine every time I look at her. But in the magazine the girls make dreamy eyes like they're tired and wanted to go to sleep."

Leo thanked heaven when he heard that Mikey was interested in their eyes more than other _parts_ of their body.

"I think they want to go to bed but for different reason." Leo deadpanned.

"What do you mean?"

His big brother sighed. "Let's… talk about something else."

Since Leo wasn't going to give it back to him soon, and he was kinda bored of it already, Mikey decided to start talking with a new topic.

"How come you never talk about girls with me?"

Leo made a not-so-dignified sound. "What?"

"Even Donnie asks me for advice sometimes. You never talk about Miwa with me. You didn't even tell D and me until we met her."

"T-There's nothing to talk about!"

"But I know you talked to Raph about her and vice versa." Mikey leaned closer and nudged him. "Come on, don't leave me out of the loop!"

"I-I just comfort him because it'll be a while until we see Mona Lisa again."

"Did he tell you why he likes her?"

Leo gave him a side-eye look. "Even if he did, I won't tell you."

"Whyyy? I told you why I like Renet. You should tell me too!"

"Mikey! That's enough!"

"Come on! You gotta tell me something!"

"I have nothing to tell you, okay?"

Mikey huffed. "Why? Because Raph is not here?"

Leo chose to stay silent, biting his bottom lip. Somehow the silence irked Mikey. He lashed out at Leo before he could stop himself.

"You always talk to Raph about, I don't know, _everything!_ Is this one of only-grown-ups thing? Keeping me in the dark? Because you push me out of the loop all the time."

"It's not like that. I..."

"Nevermind," Mikey cut him off. "I'm sorry... I won't ask again."

Mikey felt like they were back to the night where they had the argument about stupid jealousy. He _had to_ stop because he didn't want to see that icy stare again.

The rest of the trip was awkward. Leo kept walking in silence, while he flipped a page on a car magazine he found, tailing after his brother.

* * *

 _Leo was the one who buried them._

 _Mikey found a shovel in the closet and dug two deep graves under the tree near the tower, but he didn't stay when Leo buried them. His little brother's hands were shaking when he saw Leo dragging the corpses, leaving a red trail on the green grass. Suddenly Mikey had an urge to run away from here. He wanted to run and not coming back, but he couldn't. He ran back to the tower and waited for Leo at the door, not taking his eyes off his big brother but not coming closer._

 _Slowly, Leo put them into the grave, gripping the shovel and scooping the dirt to cover them. When the task was done, he felt his mind went blank. He couldn't move for a minute, wondering why he was here. And then he remembered he just buried his human friends. Leo turned around to meet his little brother, took a deep breath and tried to stop his own hands from shaking too much._

 _Mikey waited until he walked back, and clung on his arm to get into the radio tower together._

* * *

He ran out of magazines to read. He already finished 'Silver Sentry' five times. They kept quiet since their last talk, or maybe Leo was avoiding him. _Fine_. But he couldn't do it forever. Mikey didn't want to start the conversation this time, but he was _bored_. He wanted someone to talk to. So when his hand brushed on T-phone in his belt he wasted no time to pick it up and make a call.

Apparently, it didn't work, so Mikey shook it a few times.

"What _are_ you doing this time?" Leo's voice came from the front.

"I'm trying to call Donnie, but T-phone doesn't work."

Leo slowed down to walk beside him. "Of course it doesn't work. Put it back. We need to keep the batteries."

"Don't worry. We can recharge it with solar function. Just press here."

Mikey pressed the screen. The top panel of the phone moved, revealing the small solar cell. Leo blinked.

"When did he install that function?"

"Last week, bro. He told me he got an idea from Professor Honeycutt to recharge the battery. So we can continue using the phone if we're out of the lair for a long time."

Leo took his phone and pressed the screen to activate the function. "I see. This recharge function will come in handy."

"But why I can't call him? I can't even call you even if you're three steps away from me."

Leo saved some troubles of explaining about mobile network by giving a simple answer. "Because Donnie's not here?"

"Oh man. This sucks." Mikey whined, already forgot why he wanted to use the phone in the first place. Then he found the game icon on the screen. "Hey, T-phone isn't entirely useless. See? I can still play games."

Leo smiled tiredly. "That's good. Please keep yourself busy until we reach the next town."

Their argument was long forgotten. Mikey realized that he was talking to Leo again like nothing happened.

 _Right. When there's only two of us left, it's possible to tick each other off,_ Mikey thought. _And it's possible to have fun together too._

"Leo, Leo, Leo!"

Mikey tackled him from behind, making him sway a little. Leo raised his eye ridge, apparently not fully comprehended about why his little brother acted like six years old. "What is it?"

"I'm really sorry." His voice muffled by the fabric on Leo's back.

"Huh? About what?"

"I won't ask you about your love life again."

Leo flushed. "Mikey, I don't have a love life."

"Yeah, I won't ask about that either."

Leo shook his head with a chuckle. Mikey still planted his face in his neck and held his grip firmly. So he raised his hand and touched his little brother's cheek affectionately. "But… if you ask about something else, I'll tell you, okay? I won't… keep you in the dark anymore."

Mikey perked up, leaning towards so he could look at Leo's ocean blue eyes. They were calm and kind like the first day he remembered. "So we're good?"

"For now."

Mikey stuck his tongue out and _bleh!_ at him. He felt Leo's chest rumbled with a laugh. "You know, if you keep this up you're going to beat Raph's record soon."

"No way. You two fight so many times. Even our genius brother gave up counting a long time ago."

"Yes, but you apologized to me more than he did."

Mikey giggled when the image of Raph saying sorry aggressively popped up in his head before he confessed softly. "Leo, I miss home."

He felt Leo's hand rubbed his arm. "We will go home together, I promise."

Nodding slowly, he released his big brother and took T-phone out of his belt.

"Let's take a selfie before we go home! Come on, we must have a proof we've been here when we're back home."

The background wasn't pleasant, full of rusted cars and the trees. The sky was clear and the sun was warm. Anyone who looked at the picture afterward would think they were on the vacation, exploring the countryside. Mikey was grinning like a fool, moving around to find the right angle for both of them, squeezing Leo to get in the frame together. Leo looked him with concern, but he no longer found the fear in those bright blue eyes.

Mikey was oblivious to his worries and called him to looked at the camera.

So Leo smiled.

* * *

 _Mikey sobbed._

 _Deciding the tower couldn't be a shelter for them anymore, they prepared to go as soon as possible. Mikey kneeled in front of their graves, holding flowers he collected from the field before putting them on the dirt. Leo stood tall beside him, clenching his hands the whole time._

 _His little brother took something from the backpack. The plastic football from yesterday. He placed it near the flowers. His once sky blue eyes dimmed as he continued crying._

" _Why…?"_

" _Mikey..."_

" _Yesterday I wanted to play with him but he didn't want to. I thought he didn't like me. I thought he was in the bad mood so I left him and hope he'll play with me in the morning, but..." Mikey sobbed, bowing his head. "Why...?"_

 _Leo didn't have an answer for that question. He just stood like a stone statue, unable to do anything._

 _When Mikey got up on his feet, Leo saw undoubtedly fear and sadness in his eyes. Mikey stared at him for a moment before wrapping his arms around him._

" _It's not your fault."_

" _Mikey?"_

" _Raph is not here so I'll say that for him. I know you need a reminder not to take all the blame." Mikey looked up at him. "And you said it's nobody's fault..."_

 _Leo whispered weakly. "You're strong, Mikey. Maybe even stronger than me."_

" _There's nothing you can do."_

 _He rose his voice for no reason, no, he was angry, but he didn't know anymore why he had to be, he didn't care. "Really? Is there nothing I can do to prevent this? Do you think Sam wanted to get infected?"_

" _He didn't tell us he got bitten. I don't why but he chose not to." Mikey countered with a loud voice as if he wanted to emphasize his words, to make Leo believe him. "And Henry-He… he..."_

 _He was going to argue, but Mikey was crying again. A fresh tear ran_ _down_ _his cheeks. Leo cupped his face with his hands, using his thumbs to dry his face. Mikey's clear blue eyes stared at him again. He must catch something inside of him because he tried to soothe him when he spoke again._

" _Leo, please. I don't want you to lose yourself again. Last time you were so angry and disappointed and depressed then you did stupid act in space. I-I can't do this alone." Mikey's broken voice rang in his head. Alone._

 _His little brother was crying so hard he couldn't utter a word, and when he did it was like his heart bled those words for him. "I can't… There's nobody out there. If you're gone, I'd be all alone."_

 _Alone._

 _Mikey was comforting him, begging him not to go._

 _Go where?_

 _Maybe he saw something in his blank eyes. Maybe he saw that he was still crying silently, shutting him out. Maybe he saw that his big brother was leaving him again._

 _But he won't go anywhere. The word 'alone' pinned him, suffocated him, but he would stay this time._

" _You're wrong." Leo nuzzled his little brother's cheek._

" _Huh?"_

" _It's not the easy way out."_

 _Mikey was confused for a moment before the realization kicked in. Leo buried his face in his neck. At least if he couldn't go anywhere he could hide his tears from the world._

 _Mikey's voice echoed in his head again and again._

" _It's okay… Everything's gonna be okay."_

 _To think Mikey had to comfort him, Leo wanted to laugh, but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything other than crying. His knees finally gave in and he almost collapsed if Mikey didn't hold him._

 _The scene when they were fighting on the street emerged. If only he came back faster, if only he ran to Sam faster, but then he remembered Henry would die on the spot if he didn't help kicking five clickers that were on the top of him. He began to believe Mikey that there was nothing he could do. He couldn't save both of them at the same time. He wanted to believe it, but_ _the guilt flooded over him because in the end he couldn't save any of them._

 _He thought about how he killed humans yesterday. It wasn't pretty. It was the first time that he intended to kill someone. He felt sick, but he couldn't tell Mikey. Not yet. Mikey didn't have to suffer like him._

 _He hated the idea of killing. He hated the idea of getting used to killing. It was easy to rip the last breath out of someone. But if someone was the one who was close to him, could he still make it?_

 _Even though he hesitated, he knew he would. If it was for Mikey, he would do it._

 _But Henry spared him by shooting Sam and committing suicide; he didn't have to kill them. However, the human siblings left a serious question to them._

' _If the loved one was infected, could you do the right thing?'_

* * *

 **Author's note:** The last question is from Last of Us trailer.

'Silver Sentry' is just an easter egg. There's no other turtles in LoU.

I have fun writing this chapter. It's very difficult to write especially near the end of Henry and Sam's story... They are one of many reasons I want to write this AU. Last of Us still has some areas left to explore so I'll try my best to bring it out.

For those who has played the game, I can say that Winter is coming (no pun intended). But it could be Spring, Summer, or Fall in next chapter, I don't know, haven't decided yet.

Speaking about the game, you can skip this part. I'm just babbling lol.

I just found out Days Gone isn't Last of Us 2 /sad face… It's totally different world. Zombie in Days Gone is called a Freaker (wait waht?), that's all I know. I'll dig it as long as it has awesome storyline. And I was in the middle of finding inspiration in DA and Pixiv (I warn you, if you think DA is a maze, Pixiv is the abyss. You can get in but can't get out…) and found doujinshi about 2007 version. Wow, I didn't know Donnie is really cool, the coolest version ever. I like him! Gonna rewatch 2007 movie again for him.

Okay, I'm done. Thank you for reading!


	13. Fall: Chapter 13

**Author's note:** Now I know why some authors take a long time to update. I'm experiencing it myself, it's called 'real life' and 'sickness' *bricked*. For the sake of continuity in the story, I re-read from first chapter and feel embarrassed /)_(\\. I was _beyond_ nervous just to make the correct spelling, and I still am, both on spelling and storyline. But here we are, now on the second arc of the story (how many arcs in this story anyway?). I'm sorry that the event in Winter is not coming yet. It was the first plan that I want Winter's event, but I change my mind. it's still Summer and then I'll start with Fall. I've never been to America, so I'll research as much as I could for their trip.

I'm very depressed right now because our king just passed away. It's difficult to write something happy. Fortunately, this chapter isn't about happiness much. Just one more problem unlocked.

Thank you everyone for reading/review/fav/follow!

* * *

Mikey couldn't sleep.

When he said he would have a nightmare for weeks, he half-expected it would happen for two or three days. Not five days straight. Not when a downpour of rain kept hitting the truck roof where they were sleeping on the road. It was pitch black outside. He couldn't see or hear anything, so he tried to go back to sleep again. But the image of the death and clicker were still fresh behind his eyelids so he sat up, kicking off the dirty gray cloak they used as a blanket, blinking sleepily in the darkness. Leo said they would manage with the limited resources they have until he could find camping tools like a tent. It would be a while since they hadn't reached the next town.

He had hoped Leo would wake up the moment he sat, but his big brother was too tired and continue sleeping. Now Mikey was bored. He couldn't read his comic without a light. He wriggled his toes and reached down to touch his ankle. The stitch was gone. Leo cut it out late because they were busy with… other _things_. The skin was smooth, leaving a little scar that would soon fade over time. He always knew his big brother's sewing skill was superb. He didn't have to worry about the gash turning into ugly scar anymore.

Mikey glanced at Leo who was curling on his side. Usually, Leo, the master of ninjitsu, was a light sleeper. The fact that he didn't even stir when Mikey was awake bothered him a bit. Was he very tired? Or there was something wrong with him? Leo shifted a little as he leaned closer to Leo's head

Despite the sound of heavy rain hitting on the truck roof, Mikey could hear the name that escaped from Leo's lips.

"Raph…"

 _Oh._

 _So that's why he didn't wake up. He's dreaming._

He tried to get closer without waking him as if he wanted to get into Leo's dream world.

"...Mikey…"

 _Ha! I'm in his dream too. I wonder what's he dreaming about? But if there's us in his dream then maybe it's a good dream?_

Then he heard Leo ground his teeth with his eyes closed, frowning and sweating in his sleep.

 _Umm… maybe not very good dream…?_

So it wasn't only him who had the nightmare. He didn't know what to do. He could snuggle on him but he preferred to do it when his brother was awake. One thing he had learned was that he shouldn't sneak up on Leo when he was asleep because he would get unpleasant result afterward, like getting a punch in the face. But before Mikey could do anything, the clicking sound echoed from the road behind them, not too loud yet deafening them with fear.

That was when Leo snapped his eyes open, nearly collided his head with Mikey's when he got up. Mikey grabbed Leo's arm, shrinking himself behind his brother's shell. Their eyes darted in the darkness and caught a staggering step from a lonely clicker. It didn't care about them, perhaps there was too much noise as it was still raining. The sound of its pace was coming closer. Mikey held his breath as it passed by the trunk.

It was unusual to meet clicker far from the town. Normally, clicker would stay near the populated city because sometimes living people got infected and turned into one of them. This lost clicker was walking out of nowhere. He felt Leo shifted as the clicking sound haunted them.

He tried to remember the theory in zombie science that the moment people turned into zombie, living soul was gone (he read it from some website that was less authentic than Wikipedia but he didn't care because he _wanted_ to believe it). The person who was inside was already gone, already moved on to the better place.

The image of the boy flashed before his eyes, he quickly buried his face in his brother's shell. He wondered if Sam was at peace.

The lonely clicker staggered away and continued its demise on the empty road ahead. Mikey's gaze followed its shadow until it was out of his sight. He thought it looked so lonely, and he wanted at least to wave at it as a goodbye.

But then he realized he didn't have to because it was already gone, its soul and body.

* * *

Mikey was tired.

Leo and he didn't get enough sleep yesterday. Last night they met the first clicker and they were anxious more would come. On the bright side, it could mean that the next town was close.

His big brother climbed on the truck to see the direction, then he saw the town ahead. Mikey wasn't sure he should be happy or not. The next town might be full of supplies and clickers. But he really needed the tent. It would be so much better to have camping tools. At least it would make him feel like they were on vacation.

He glanced at Leo who was looking at the map intently as he led the way. Mikey knew Leo was usually quiet and difficult to read. Most of the conversation he had was always with Raph, and half of them turned into arguments. Now Leo didn't have someone to argue with so he was mostly quiet. And it was Mikey who initialed the talk. The more he talked, the more he knew that Leo hid something beneath his stoic mark. Maybe Leo tried to stay strong for both of them. He was technically their leader, after all, even if they were only two of them.

But he wanted Leo to talk, to tell him what he had on his mind. No use to rush him anyway, Mikey could wait. When Leo was ready, he would tell him since he didn't have anyone else to talk to.

So he reached out to hold his big brother's hand.

* * *

Leo was immediately tensed.

The words from afar hit him when Mikey's hand touched his.

 _\- said I'm too old to hold his hand - Maybe you should do it with him again._

 _His own nightmare resurfaced, bringing him back to the radio tower, red liquid on his hands. He stood still as he shook his head. When he opened his eyes again the tower was gone, but he was back where the purple liquid was on the floor, behind him the giant blender was glowing and spinning at high speed. Something wet fell on him. He startled at the bright blue liquid splattered on his hand, he would get the second mutation and it was all his fault -_

"Leo?"

He gasped as his mind was back at the empty street under the sunlight. Mikey was looking at him as if he grew another head. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to calm down.

"We should reach the town before noon. Come on."

He tentatively pulled his hand out of Mikey's grip, pretending to grab the map with both hands. As Leo walked away he could feel Mikey's disappointment in the air, but he chose to ignore him, focusing on walking faster.

This world, this place, it messed him up. He had to escape this nightmare as soon as possible.

* * *

Mikey was a little bit unhappy.

 _What's wrong with holding hand?_ He thought. _Yesterday you were fine when I cuddled you, now you don't want me to even touch you?_

Leo kept walking and didn't say anything, leaving Mikey followed him and secretly pouted at him.

 _Fine. I can wait,_ He yawned. _I caaaaaan wait for a long time until you're ready to tell me your nightmare._

* * *

They were walking in the town, bigger than the last one they visited. The architecture was different too. Dark orange buildings setting like a row of Lego blocks. The tall grass covered the walking path but it wasn't a problem since they didn't want to walk around the town, they just wanted to get into the building.

But Mikey thought he should be concerned about surrounding. It was too quiet, no humans or clickers. His six sense told him that there was something weird here, and his sense was always correct. His squint eyes caught something not so transparent on the both side of the wall, blocking their way. _The wire? Why do they bind the thin wire to block the way? It doesn't seem effective._ But his instinct told him not to touch it. They could still crawl under it, though. He glanced at Leo who didn't seem to notice it.

"Umm, Leo?"

Leo didn't hear him even if he was behind him. _This is weird,_ Mikey thought and tried again.

"Leonardo?"

The power of full name didn't work on him, or Leo didn't hear him, _again_. He moved closer to his brother and took a peek over his shoulder. The voice in his head yelled at him, telling him to do something. Leo was only a meter before hitting the wire so he grabbed the top of his brother's shell and pulled back.

"Stop! _SU-TO-PU!_ _Yame!_ You'll hit it, bro."

Leo was confused for a moment before glaring back at Mikey.

"What the shell, Mikey?"

He meekly pointed at the wire in front of them. It took a few moments until Leo could see it. His brother blinked, mumbled something to himself.

"Oh."

"Oh? Just _oh?_ Are you serious? How can you miss the simple trap like that? I'm sleepy head here and I still can see it." He knew he was babbling, but he thought it was appropriate because he needed it, he needed to relieve his stress. "What's _wrong_ with you? You cannot see? Did something happen to your eyes? Or… or… _you can't see because_ _mushroom is growing on your head!?_ "

Leo rolled his eyes, giving him a look that meant 'you're the best example of exaggeration'. "Mikey, _stop_. I'm fine."

"Then why didn't you see the trap? You didn't even hear my warnings!"

Leo bit his lip. Mikey guessed he was trying to come up with an excuse. _Oh man, excuse? Really? When did Leo act like Mikey?_ He never gave a lecture to his brothers, basically because he was the one who mostly got it.

Then the light bulb shone in his head.

 _He becomes distracted again, like he did on the bridge, like when he fell into this dimension…_

He tilted his head, trying to figure out what was wrong with Leo. Physically, he was fine (and no mushrooms, thank god). So he thought the problem must be inside his head.

Leo ran a hand over his face, averting his eyes. "Sorry. I'm just ...tired."

Even Mikey could tell he was lying, every family member knew Leo was a terrible liar. But he wouldn't press him, he could wait. Mikey's next word was soft.

"I know we haven't had enough sleep yesterday. Maybe today we can get rest early?"

Leo nodded, still not looking at him. "Yes, I agree. I think we found enough supplies. Let's find a safe place for tonight."

"Before we do that, can I test this trap? I want to know what will happen if I touch it..."

His big brother swatted his hand. "Stop. It's a bomb trap. See the black box on the wall? If you set it off, it'll explode."

"So, ugh, we should leave it alone?"

Leo sighed and rubbed his temple. Mikey actually smiled at him because it meant his brother was back to be himself again.

"Let's go."

His voice was clipped, leaving no place to argue which was fine with him. But Leo still didn't hold his hand. _Ugh,_ _fine_.

* * *

Finding a secure place was a challenge. They had to look out for humans and clickers. A few times they ran into clickers but those things just stood still since there was no noise to attract them. They couldn't spare them, of course, so Leo quickly took care of them. Mikey still felt sorry for them, but he reminded himself that their souls were already gone.

This building in front of them looked intact, the windows were tightly closed, and the door was well built. When they entered the building, they found a lot of supplies here, like humans regularly came here and stocked it. Mikey enjoyed searching for camping equipment for their journey, while Leo had a suspicion about this place.

"Whoa… I found a tent!"

Leo shook his head at his little brother who was running around the room. "Looks like you enjoy shopping."

"Definitely. Look! They have crackers! This is what I called real food!"

"Don't make a loud noise. We don't know when will they come back." Leo warned him before entering the next room. His body tensed when he saw stuff inside. Mikey ran to him and took a peek over his shoulder.

"Someone's setting an army here," Leo breathed, keeping his voice low.

They walked carefully to the gun racks. Some gun parts waiting for assembling were on the table. After a few minutes, Leo examined a familiar gun in his hand and called Mikey. "Come to look at this."

"Is that… Kraang's laser gun?" Mikey looked too cheerful for someone who saw enemy's gun. _Who would have thought we'll be happy to see Kraang's stuff?_ "I know it! This is one of Fireflies' hideout, and this place is where they keep their guns."

Leo wasn't easily convinced. "If this is really their place, there should be more laser guns. But there's only one here, I checked. It looks quite old compared to other guns. Maybe they stole it from the Kraang."

Mikey was discouraged. "So… this place isn't owned by Fireflies?"

"Seems that way. I bet the hunters stole this gun from them." Leo grunted. He began to hate those hunters. "Keep looking. Maybe there's more info about this place."

"Leo, look!"

Mikey pointed at the blackboard behind the gun racks. There were chalk writing and notes pinned on it, showing the list of goods and the route to escape out of the town.

"This town is the part of gun trafficking. That's why they set up many traps. They prevent intruders from coming to this building," Leo asserted, the realization drew to him finally. "Hey, at least we know we're on the right track. We're getting closer to the Kraang."

"Yeah, but… no Fireflies here..." Mikey gulped. Suddenly sleeping under the truck roof sounded more appealing than sleeping in the town where bad humans were around.

* * *

They decided to spend the night outside the town.

Leo was anxious that humans may come back anytime, and he didn't want to face more clickers today. Mikey didn't object, though he spent a long time in the weapon room to find something related to the Kraang. Sadly, he didn't find anything.

At the exit to the open-air storage, Leo was about to open the door to go out. Mikey squinted his eyes as he saw some weird rope on the door knob. It looked like one of the tricks he had seen on TV…

Then he realized it was the trap. This town was full of traps he wanted to cry.

"LEO!"

"Ahhh!"

It was too late. Leo already opened the door and stepped on the lasso on the ground, triggering the snare trap. There was a loud bang as the heavy crate fell to the ground, the other end of rope caught his leg and pulled him up in the air. As Leo struggled while the rope was pulling him, the back of his head hit the old fridge nearby. The unexpected blow sent him to unconscious.

"LEO!"

Mikey, who was still on the ground, tried to call him again. Leo's limp form was up in the air, at least ten feet from the ground. His gray cloak tangled with his arms. When his brother didn't respond, he was panicked.

 _Is he dead? No! Don't die! Answer me!_

"Leo! Answer me! Say something! Are you okay!? I'll get you down. Just wait a minute-"

He was going to get under him when the katana slipped from the scabbards and hit the ground below with a loud _clank!_ That was when he realized he was now truly alone. But he didn't have to wait for long for another company. The familiar clicking sounds were coming to his direction. _Oh what to do, what to do!?_ Mikey swallowed. He was alone, he had to deal with it alone.

It ran to him with full speed. Still in shock, he didn't have time to get his nunchucks. But his reflective move worked in time to spin kick it.

"Stay away from him!" Mikey shouted at it, but it was a mistake. More noise meant more of them coming.

 _What to do? What should I do!?_

Leo's still form was above his head, groaning but not waking up. At least he was hanging upside down high in the air, clickers couldn't reach him. Mikey grabbed his nunchucks nervously. He needed to lure them away from Leo and the warehouse.

 _It's no big deal. I fought those things before in the open area. I'll be fine._

"Alright, mushroom head. You want a piece of me? Come and get me!"

The sickle pierced through the air and landed directly on its head, then he yanked the chain the swung its body to outside. A few clickers were running to the warehouse where the loud noise occurred previously like they already pinpointed the location of the noise. Mikey bit his lip, his taunt wasn't enough. They were heading to the warehouse anyway. He couldn't risk staying near Leo. He had to get away from this place, not too close to Leo but not too far from him in case he needed to run back. He switched nunchucks back and beat one of clicker in the face to get out.

For some reason, he thought about screaming to attract them. High pitch scream would work, but he needed to cover all range of sound. Once he stood on the street he cleared his throat, making his voice deep and sang loudly (it was off-key, of course).

" _HUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH…! Yeahyeahyeaheeeeeyeeeaaaah!_ "

…

There was an eerily silent moment. Everything on the ground stopped moving, even clickers. The sound came out like a death metal screaming. Mikey was about to continue, and his audiences(?) stood still as if to wait for his song, but then he scratched his head.

"Aww, I forget lyric."

The moment had passed.

The song questionably worked.

Those clickers turned to him, trying to find his location using clicking noise from its head. Mikey was far from happy when he found himself to be the center of attention.

"Easy clicker, nice clicker. Why do the bad guys always follow me!?" He started running from the horde. "Chill, pals. Can we talk about it over coffee?! No?"

They followed him, which was good because Leo would be safe for a while. But what about him? Now that he could lure them away he had to come up with the plan. Mikey used a smoke bomb to get ahead of them when they ran too close to him. He ran and shouted at them all the way.

"You ugly pizza topping! You disgrace all your neighbor toppings. Caramelized onions, fontina, and rosemary are ashamed of you!"

It was easy just to lure them away, but at the same time, he had to keep distance with them. He was practically running around the town, attracting more clickers along the way. Another smoke bomb was used. Mikey began to get tired, but he kept running. His destination was the bomb trap they found earlier,

"You are the worst topping ever! I don't want to hate you but you give me no choice." He shouted one last time and used the grappling hook to get to the rooftop. Those clickers were still running to his direction. He mocked a sad face. "Goodbye, my love. I'll remember you. Wild mushroom topping will always be in my heart."

When the bomb exploded, he didn't wait around to see the result. But he saw some splash making the way high to the rooftop like a fountain. Not really pleasant view, so he focused on getting back to his brother.

"Leo!"

Leo regained consciousness finally, he groaned. "...What happened?"

Mikey looked up at him and giggled. "You took a nap like a bat, dude. Get it? You're hanging upside down."

"Really…?"

"Yeah, and you missed my concert." Mikey's words began to make no sense to him. Leo decided not to ask about it while Mikey helped to get him down. "You okay?"

"Yes… How long I was out of the game?"

"Not too long. I can handle them. But please, please don't do something like this again. I thought you're a goner for a sec."

He wouldn't say it was un-Leo-like to fall to the trap like that, he didn't need to because it already showed in Leo's expression. "I'm sorry..."

* * *

Mikey planed to get him to talk.

He knew he could wait, but when he saw Leo today he thought he couldn't wait for him to come around. He had to do something.

They were staying out of the town, residing back on the main road, leaving the town behind. Mikey set up the tent and built a campfire, getting excited that it was like a vacation to him. The rest was to persuade Leo to join him. But like the other night, Leo's presence seemed to be far away from him.

Mikey turned to see his brother who was sitting on the top of the abandoned car, looking at the emptiness on the road. The moonlight outlined his form under the cloak, his hood tugged down. Leo touched the bump on the back of his head, looked upset. He decided to cut the chase and climbed to sit near him. Leo shut his eyes and didn't say anything. His heart sank a little. Mikey just wanted to tell him that he didn't blame Leo, so he poked his arm.

"I'm tired of waiting, Leo. Something bothers you for a while. You have to tell me."

Leo hugged his knees. "I don't know… I can't explain it..."

"I know you have a nightmare, I have one too. You can tell me about it." When Leo didn't respond, he used the triumph card. "You promised to tell me everything, remember?"

It seemed Leo was having a battle inside his head, hugging his knees tight and shutting him out. Mikey pouted when his trick didn't work. Leo must have an awful nightmare if he didn't want to share with him.

 _So who's he gonna share with?_ Mikey wondered, then the lightbulb once again shone in his head.

 _How can I forget one person that Leo wishes to see the most?_

He sat on the floor in lotus style beside him, tying a plastic rope on his chin to make a Japanese goatee. Leo was busy staring at the ground, so when Mikey called him he blinked at his transformation.

Hesitatingly, Leo asked. "Umm, Mikey, what are you doing?"

Mikey closed his eyes and put his hands on his lap, shifting a bit so he could face his brother. "What do you think I'm doing, son?"

"What?"

He used all of his self-restraint not to laugh at Leo's expression. His brother's eyes were as large as pancake. _Not now, Mikey. You can do it again at the lair. Right now you need to focus._ He thought, lifting his right hand in front of them.

"Give me your hand, son. So we can be connected through the spiritual thingy in our bodies."

"...Are you imitating Master Splinter?"

"No. Nuh-uh. Don't be silly, son"

Even with eyes closed, he still felt Leo's gaze piercing through him, judging him. But he won't back down easily. Trying his best to pretend meditating, he told himself this wasn't a prank, this was the only way to let his brother talk to him.

"Tell me what troubles you, son." He made sure to add emphasis on ' _son'_. Mikey hoped he had pulled all his father's resemblance just to make his brother relax. When he didn't hear a response, he cracked one eye open. Leo was sitting with legs crossed, staring at his right hand as if he was nervous to place his own hand on his. Finally, he conceded. Leo sighed, wondering why he did it but decided to play along.

"I.. err…"

Mikey shut his eyes again and remained still as much as possible. He squeezed his brother's hand a bit as an encouragement.

It took several minutes before Leo spoke again.

"I hate getting used to kill."

Mikey internally asked _what?_ but he kept his calm look. It was better to let Leo spoke, interrupting him might stop him completely.

 _Besides, I'm curious about what he'll tell me._

"I… Master Splinter told us we shouldn't kill unless we have no choice. He teaches Ninjitsu to allow us to protect ourselves, not to kill humans, not to take pleasure in killing. And yet I've aimed to kill them… _intentionally_."

He heard Leo sighed again. "He also said ' _do not hesitate_ ' so I didn't. I'm afraid that if I didn't get them first, they would kill us. And I… I was going to kill Sam because he hurt you. It's wrong, he was our friend and little brother. But I couldn't let him kill you. You're my little brother too. I have to choose between you and him."

He remembered it too well and slightly shuddered at that memory, but it subsided quickly. Leo's confession was his priority. Mikey opened his eyes, holding Leo's hand with both hands. "Leo, it's not wrong. That person isn't Sam anymore."

Leo shook his head, looking at everywhere but him.

"And I made a lot of mistakes. I thought I alone could take them down. I don't want to risk your life. I keep thinking about space and the world after we get back but I don't know another way to do it without sacrificing someone."

 _Oh… so this is back to space? This is the reason behind his heroic act. Wow, he's going to tell me everything. I should be happy, right?_

Now Leo was squeezing his hands, bowing his head down until his beak touched Mikey's open palms. His voice muffled.

"I don't trust myself anymore. What if I make a wrong decision? What if we die because of me? I keep making mistakes. I fell into the portal because of my carelessness. More importantly, I failed you..."

Somewhere in the middle of Leo's long monolog, Mikey frowned. "Huh? Me?"

"If I wasn't distracted, the Kraang wouldn't shoot at me, we would have won the fight and then went back to the lair to have pizza together. Because I brought us here, you almost got killed many times. If it isn't because of me..."

"I would have died for real."

Leo looked up abruptly with panic in his eyes, mouth parted, and shook his head as if to say he didn't want to hear that word. He looked scared. It was the unusual sight. _Leo, scared? Not in a million years._ His brother didn't have trouble fighting clickers when they first came to this dimension. Mikey thought that would be a question for another time. He tapped his chin, making his goatee swaying back and forth.

"So that's the reason why your concentration is on and off sometimes. It seems you can't take my advice to your heart: focus on finding the way home. You can't keep thinking about things in the past that we can't do anything to fix it. When you're thinking, you can't focus. We have to let some of them go."

It was a second time Leo averted his eyes. Perhaps his brother remembered this speech that he said before they moved out of New York city.

"Buuut 'cause you're my bro I can't say I didn't expect this. You will be you, no matter what I said."

"I'm sorry..."

Mikey held his palm up.

"You totally forget that I will always be _me_ too, the Mikester, Dr. Prankenstein, annnnd..." He leaned closer to hug his brother. _Ha! Hug can cure anything!_ "Your cute little brother."

Leo exhaled softly on his shoulder. He took it as a cue to continue.

"We're learning to be brothers again, not just a leader and follower. We are team, and best siblings ever."

Leo closed his eyes, slowly wrapping his arms around him and whispered. "How can you stay strong after what we've been through?"

"I'm not strong, not brave too." Mikey let go first but his hands still held Leo's shoulders firmly. "But I have the best big bro in the world and I just looked up at him."

His brother blushed slightly. Mikey let out a small laugh and said with a calm tone, one that Leo usually used to comfort him. Now he was just returning a favor.

"Since you can't let go of your thoughts, and I don't think I can make you leave them. I guess there's only one choice left," Mikey inhaled and exhaled quietly. He wanted to tell it to Leo for a long time. "Just talk to me. Tell me everything. Tell me what is wrong. Even if I can't fix it for you but I'll listen. I'll always be here for you. You can order me to shut up and hear you out anytime."

They were staring at each other, not moving, not letting go of their hands. But Leo tilted his head a bit when Mikey leaned closer as he whispered.

"And don't worry, I promise I won't tell Raph."

Finally, Leo looked at him. A tiny smile worked its way across his face and into his eyes.

"Hai, sensei."

Mikey blinked, then he remembered he still had the plastic rope on his chin. He giggled as he removed it. "Oh man, I was sooo out of the character."

"You're doing great as sensei, Mikey."

He felt Leo's hands behind his neck. Slowly, his brother drew them together until their foreheads touched. Leo closed his eyes and sighed.

"Thank you."

At least he did it, he felt like he was getting closer to big brother who he should have been closed sixteen years ago. But it didn't matter, today could be their starting point. He didn't care. Mikey stuck his tongue out playfully. But his eyes widened when Leo smiled and returned the same gesture. Mikey leaned back and stared at him.

"W-What?" Leo stuttered, thinking he did something wrong.

And then Mikey grinned and launched at him, making him yelp and fell on his shell. Mikey laughed as he tickled his brother. The horde of clickers could hear his laughter for all he cared.

* * *

P.s. the last scene is inspired by Neofox.

P.s.s. I would like to try caramelized onion...


	14. Fall: Chapter 14

_Seven years old Mikey had a special reason when he chose the nunchucks._

 _A_ veeeeeery _special one, that was what he thought. The idea popped up the moment he saw it so he didn't want his brothers to touch that weapon. Nobody would touch his weapon._

 _That was his_, _like it destined to be his._

 _So when Master Splinter summoned them to the dojo to train with weapons for the first time, he was the first turtle at the door. Totally excited to try his idea_ on _his weapon. Splinter seemed amused to find his youngest son so eager to train. Not every day to see Michelangelo wanted training more than playing._

 _The moment Splinter handed him nunchucks he quickly did something to it._

 _He licked on the nunchucks._

 _"What are you doing!?"_

 _"Eww… that's another level of disgusting."_

 _"That's gross!"_

 _The chorus automatically came from his brother. But Mikey didn't care. This. He wanted to do this to his weapon. To make him invincible. Even Raph couldn't beat him._

 _"Ha! Now you're scared! Prepare yourself!"_

 _"What make you think I'm scared!? I will hit you before you hit me with that stupid sticky piece!"_

 _"But it's a good trick! See? Now you don't want to come near me!"_

 _Donnie rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but it's because your saliva is on nunchucks. I think it's against all rules in the real fight."_

 _Before Mikey swung his nunchucks and made saliva flown all over the place, Splinter put a hand on his small shoulder, making him flinch._

 _"Michelangelo."_

 _His father's voice was far from intimidated, but his father's presence behind his back kinda froze him. The fact that his brothers stopped talking and just stared at Father made him even more nervous. The youngest son was usually an exception when it came to a lecture, basically because he was the youngest. He sometimes got scolded by their father when they were practicing in the dojo, though. But today father was serious. Mikey gulped. He was truly in trouble._

 _It wasn't easy to raise four sons that were at the same age, especially when your sons were mutants. They were wild, young, and full of curiosity. But he was patient. Splinter knew better that violent wasn't the solution. Most of the time, he believed in reasoning with them._

 _"That is not how you treat your weapon. You have to respect your own weapon because one day it might save your life."_

 _Splinter turned him around and kneeled before him, looking disappointed at his childish idea. Seeing his son's wide eyes with fear, Splinter closed his eyes, and when he re-open them his gaze was soft._

 _"Since you have a fully understanding of the bare hand techniques, I want to train you how to move with your chosen weapon. There is no room for disharmony or hesitation when you are holding your weapon. You have to be aware of your surroundings, and know your own weapon well enough to make adjustments with your body."_

 _Splinter got up to his feet and looked at his sons. "If all of you do not take it seriously, you will get hurt by the errors you made. You will get cut from the blade, get smacked by the bō, or become entangled by the chain." The last part was meant for Mikey. Splinter even lingered his glance for a few moment to make sure he got a message. "Respect the weapon you are using."_

 _"Hai, sensei." His brothers answered. Mikey could only nod. He bowed to Father and whispered._

 _"I'm sorry, sensei. I won't do it again."_

 _A fur hand soothed him on his shell. When Mikey perked up he could see his Father smiled._

 _"If you know your mistake, you can learn to fix it," Splinter gestured him to outside. "Please wash your nunchucks. It is now yours, so you have to take a good care of it."_

 _"Okay..."_

 _Well, his first idea to become undefeatable was busted. But that didn't mean he won't try a new one._

* * *

 _The training with weapons in the dojo was fun, to say at least. They tried to get used to their own weapon quickly. Even though Master Splinter warned them beforehand, Raph still got cut from his sai, and Donnie got smacked by his bō. Mikey felt sorry that Donnie got the second hit from his nunchucks too. The only one who didn't do mistakes today was, of course, Leo. It was expected. Leo was the best ninja among them. Splinter went to treat their wounds, leaving Mikey alone in front of TV. He was bored. He wanted to play with his brothers but he had to wait until they came out of the needle room._

 _Where's Leo? He wondered. Mikey got up and looked around the lair. He found his brother still in the dojo._

 _"What're you doing, Leo?" He stood at the door, watching Leo combining his move with the katana._

 _"Practicing."_

 _Leo's voice was slightly hoarse as he continued spinning the katana in both hands. He didn't even spare Mikey a glance._

 _"But the training time's over. You can have a break now."_

 _"I know, I just want to get used to my weapon."_

 _Apparently, everyone started the this-is-mine trend. Well, he couldn't blame his brothers since he was the one who started this trend. Nunchucks was his, rightfully his! They became possessive of their own weapon. But it felt weird since they never claimed their toys, they shared and played together._

 _Mikey decided to wait in the dojo until Leo was finished. He was very bored that he sat on the sideline watching his brother swinging the katana, but couldn't sit still for long. Mikey got up again and walked casually to the weapons on the wall. Maybe if he looked at the Japanese swords long enough he would interest in them. He walked around the dojo and not caring that he was getting too close to the katana. Leo paused his move and narrowed his eyes when Mikey was in his way. He sighed, dropping his pose. No point to continue. He had known that when Mikey wanted something, he would do anything to get it._

 _"Okay, what do you want?"_

 _Mikey whipped his head so fast his neck would snap. "I'm bored! Raphie and D are still with sensei so I thought you want to play with me…?" The last part was two octaves higher because he realized he didn't know if Leo wanted to play._

 _The immediate answer crushed his hope._

 _"No."_

 _"Or..." Time for plan B! "I can spar with you!"_

 _"No. We can't spar with weapons. Master Splinter said that's our next lesson." Leo clenched his grip on the katana, giving his little brother a disapproving look. "I thought you already know that our weapons are not toys. You can't play with it just for fun."_

 _'You don't have to rub it in.' Mikey thought, pouting._

 _"Alright, I get it. No playing." Mikey held his palms up, then he shot questions like a rapid-fire gun. "Why did you choose twin blades? Are they cool? They look really cool. Can I try them?"_

 _It took a few moments before Leo blinked. "...What?"_

 _"Can I borrow it? Please? Pretty please? Just a few minutes?"_

 _There was some emotion flickered behind his brother's eyes, but it was gone before he caught it. Mikey tilted his head and did his best to keep his puppy eyes at Leo. He knew it would work because it worked every time. He was super bored and needed to do something._

 _Leo clenched and unclenched his grip, refusing to look at Mikey. But his little brother was begging and he couldn't deny it. He was pretty much the expert katana wielder already when he swiftly flipped one of his katana. With a half swing, Leo reluctantly offered the hilt to Mikey._

 _"You know how to use it?"_

 _Finally! Mikey was too happy when he got on katana from his brother. "I saw how you use it, like this!" He saw Leo swinging the blade like he did with nunchucks, it shouldn't be difficult._

Apparently _it was._

 _"Ow!"_

 _Before Leo could stop him, the blade cut his forearm in the first swing._

 _"Mikey!"_

 _The katana fell on the floor with a thud, both of them already forgot about it. Leo grabbed his injured arm and quickly inspected the wound. Mikey pressed his lips together, trying so hard not to cry. Splinter was in another room. He didn't want his father to hear him. He didn't want to get caught playing with the weapon and get scolded again._

 _His big brother didn't ask when he was uncharacteristically quiet, focusing on the cut on his arm. "It's okay. It's not deep."_

 _It was a small cut, more like a scratch mark. Thanks to his quick reflex in the last second, otherwise he would need Master Splinter to stitch it. He hated needle. But when Mikey saw the red from the blood under the cut, he began to panic. He felt like he chopped his own arm in half. "It hurts! Make it go away go away go away!"_

 _Mikey squeezed his eyes shut. If he didn't see the cut, it didn't exist, and he might not feel the pain. So he didn't see Leo's expression that morphed in a sympathy. Leo rubbed his arm, carefully not to touch the cut. Then he blew on the open wound to make it less painful. The moment Mikey felt the air brushing his skin, he cracked one eye open, wondering what was his brother doing. And when he saw Leo blowing on the cut, his mouth hung open because it actually helped. The pain didn't entirely go away but it felt magically less pain._

 _While Mikey was still in awe, Leo went to pick up first aid in the shelf. He quickly cleaned the cut. Fortunately, the cut was small enough for one band-aid to cover. Mikey kept quiet until the process finished._

 _"I'm sorry..." Mikey sniffed. "Am I getting in trouble again? Please don't tell sensei..."_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"Master Splinter was angry because I played with nunchucks, now I did it again. I make you angry." Mikey wiped the tears_ on _his face with his palm. "It still hurts..."_

 _"No, I'm not angry with you." Leo sighed while he arranged stuff back to the first aid box. He was just tired and upset. He didn't want to give the katana, he should have trust his gut so this incident wouldn't happen. When Mikey didn't look convinced, he smiled fondly and rubbed his cheek. "Just don't use your arm too much and you'll be fine."_

 _"Thanks, big bro," Mikey whispered. His arm was throbbing a little but it didn't hurt much. Suddenly he remembered Leo did something to it to make the pain temporarily gone. "Leo, can you do it again? Your magic trick to make it hurt less. Please!"_

 _Leo was about to argue that the band-aid already covered the cut so the trick wouldn't work, but Mikey kept looking at him with those baby blue eyes..._

 _He lifted Mikey's injured arm gently and blew on the skin again. Light touch of his breath tingled him, Mikey giggled. The pain actually lessened because of Leo's trick._

 _"I remember now! I saw mom doing it on the TV when her son fell on the ground. That means you're_ mom _?"_

 _Leo spluttered before pushing his arm away. "No way! I'm not mom. I'm a boy!" He lowered his voice before crossing his arms and looked away with a dark blush on his cheeks. "But I like her trick, okay?"_

 _Mikey didn't back down because he thought to call Leo 'mom' was appropriate. He was kind, even though he didn't want to play with him. "But we have_ dad _already, so you can be my mom! I always want mom!"_

 _"No, I can't be mom and brother at the same time. I'm your brother. Period."_

 _"Then who's our mom?"_

 _"...I think you should ask Donnie."_

 _After that day, Mikey still thought 'mom' should be Leo second name or something, so he called Leo 'mom' occasionally. Although Raph made fun of this nickname later when he heard Mikey. Leo was mad and they ended up bickering and fighting again. Mikey was sad because he liked that name, but if Leo didn't like it then he would quit. Since then, Mikey called mutagen mom thing instead (Donnie said it was a very close thing that related to mom. Plus, he said Leo was far from being_ mom _, Mikey secretly disagreed)._

 _He totally forgot about his next invincible trick. But being undefeatable wasn't as cool as being Leo, who seemed to know what to do to take care of him. He wanted to be like his big brother._

 _That was the distant memory in the past. One of the big-bro-and-little-bro moments he cherished._

 _Now..._

* * *

Now he was having breakfast.

He had boiled potato with worms he found near the tree. This was nothing compared to his usual food concoctions he made back home. But since the ingredients were limited, this was all he could do. He wanted to make one for Leo too but his brother only asked for normally cooked potato. What was wrong with worms? They used to eat it for years! He thought worm could be a substitute for salt. It tasted good, too.

He looked at Leo who was practicing the kata near the river. They decided to take a break from the main road because they constantly ran into clickers, and they wanted to get close to nature too. In the wild, there was no clicker out here. They could relax and search for more foods. But Mikey knew they had to go back to the road soon. Without GPS or directions, they would be lost and wouldn't get to Colorado.

 _Now it feels like we're camping like we did in the woods last year._

While chewing his food, Mikey glanced at Leo's graceful pose and took a candid photo with T-phone, collecting every moment on their journey. Once he finished eating, Leo called him.

"Come here. It's time for training."

He groaned, feeling like he was having a personal punishment with Leo. "Do I have to?"

"Absolutely. Your skills are rusting."

"Hey! That's not true. I'll show you!" But he showed no sign of moving, still sitting on the rock and wriggling his toes.

"You're slacking off." Leo grinned. "If you win, I'll let you read this."

The comic book in his big brother's hand made him drop everything and run to the shore so fast.

"Where did you find them? Where? Where? What issue? Is it Silver Sentry comic?"

"In the gas station," They visited that place yesterday before they came out of the main road. He couldn't believe it, Leo hid the comic book from him! This was unacceptable! Leo smirked, teasing him by waving the 'Star Trek' comic book in front of him. "Sorry, it's not about your Silver Sentry. It looks like a copy of Space Heroes. They even have an impersonator of Captain Ryan."

"Come on! Can I take a peek at it? Please?"

"I'll let you read it after we finish training. Deal?"

Mikey whined. "Okay, okay. So what's the lesson today, Cap'n?"

Leo stood proudly with one of the katana in his hand. "We'll practice katana today. I think we have to try to use all weapons. Last time we failed Master's lesson but it doesn't mean we shouldn't try it again."

The memory of king of the mountain came back. It wasn't a nice one because he remembered they teased Leo, not taking Leo's side, and Karai captured him later. So he hesitated. "But, umm, you know, what if we fail again?"

"You're not that bad since you already know the basic. Just need a little exercise," Then Leo faltered. " It's important to know how to use it in case… in case we're injured like… having a broken nail."

Mikey raised his eye ridge. Really, Leo? Really? He believed they had gotten injuries worse than that.

"Is that your attempt to lighten the mood, or you can't think of any better example?"

Leo opened his mouth and closed it, and then he opened again to answer quietly. "Well, I heard April complained the whole week about her pinky so it must be hurt."

"She painted her nails, dude. She complained about broken nail ruining her paint."

" _Point is_ ," Leo exclaimed loudly. "We have to adapt ourselves to use any weapon in case of emergency."

"Okay..." Mikey sighed, knowing it would be better just to accept it than arguing with the leader.

" _Issun saki wa yami_ ," Leo quip as he flipped the katana and pointed the hilt to him. "We don't know what lies ahead so we have to be prepared."

Mikey blinked. The scene in front of him was similar. Back in the dojo when Leo let him try the katana for the first time. Back when he thought Leo was super hero who could perform the magic trick to heal him. He glanced up at Leo. The quiet brother who recently detached himself from family, who would leave him in the dark and went on the crazy solo mission was gone, now Leo was smiling at him, urging him to join the spar.

"Well?"

 _It feels like… Leo's back being himself again._

"I have a pretty good idea what's waiting for us. Lots and lots of ugly pizza topping," Suddenly he felt confident, swinging the blade smugly. "Okay Cap'n. Let's do this!"

 _Yeah, we're on vacation finally._

* * *

They were back on the main road again. It was still a long way until they reached Colorado. Mikey read his comic while walking again, totally obsessed. He got a new stack of comic book that he wanted to take back home so he put everything in his backpack. But Leo told him to throw some books away since he was carrying too much.

"It'll slow you down, Mikey."

"Are you kidding? Nothing slows me down. Comic books are like my fuel."

Leo frowned. "I'm serious. You can't run fast from the enemy with a truckload of books on your back."

"I got this, dude. Clickers can't run that fast so I'm totally chill," Mikey said without taking his eyes off the comic. He spoke from experience, actually. Considering he fought thirty clickers before, and he faced them _alone_.

" _Michelangelo_ ," Now Leo crossed his arms and turned to him. Mikey tore his gaze from the comic book in his hands and glared at Leo. The power of full name was back again.

"Killjoy," Mikey muttered as he reached behind his back to retrieve the books. "Can I throw this Star Trek away?"

Leo huffed when he saw the comic cover. At first, he was happy to find sci-fi comic book, but after reading he was outraged because it was too similar to his favorite show. "Please do it. I will never accept another fake Captain. They copy all Space Heroes characters!"

Mikey pretended to contemplate the cover, rubbing his chin with his finger just to annoy Leo. "You know, you take it a little too far. I think Captain Kirk is a nice guy."

"No! There is no better leader than Captain Ryan!"

Mikey grinned. _Mission accomplished_. "Whatever floats your boat, dude."

Leo crossed his arms and sighed heavily. Mikey knew how to rile up everyone including him. But on another side, if Mikey could stay a goofball even in this dimension, he would bear with him.

A few hours later, they spotted the manufacturing plant on the side of the road. Normally they would continue their journey, not bothering to risk themselves in the unfamiliar building. This was not New York city anymore, they were out here in new, strange place. Plus, they collected enough supplies to last on the road for a week. But something was off, Mikey knew it. He squinted his eyes suspiciously.

"Wow, that's very big factory. Should we explore it?"

Leo raised his head from the map, taking a time to observe the manufacturing plant. Then he tilted his head. "It looks pretty isolated. I guess there's nothing inside."

"No clickers in the middle of America? I don't think so. My six sense tells me that place is kinda Kraang-y." Mikey was tapping his foot. His famous six sense was itching and he knew it won't go away until he set his foot in that place. "Care to join me? Unless you think you can't keep up with me, bro."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Oh please, I handled three of you before. Handling you and only you is much easier."

"You think?"

"Mikey, wipe that smirk off your face. This is not a playground. Whoever in the plant can hurt us. If it's not clicker, it might be hunter."

"I don't know. This place is pretty far from the town. I don't think we'll meet hunter here," Mikey crossed his arms. "Come on, let's take a peek. If there's nothing here I'll admit my sense is wrong. But I'm sure there's something here."

If it had been another place and time, Leo would ignore him and continue walking on the road. But his little brother's sense had proven to be true many times. After all, Mikey usually sensed the Kraang stuff better than anyone, so he would give it a shot.

"All right. Let's go in," Leo said. Mikey was excited and ready to run to the broken gate but Leo stopped him. "Not so fast, cowboy. I'm going first."

Mikey stuck his tongue at him.

* * *

Somehow the plant turned into a field hospital. There were many unused beds lying around like they just prepared them for patients, but no bodies. Leo suspected they might escaped when the virus broke out or they already turned into clickers. It was too clean, everything was still intact, no sign of chaos. Perhaps they got out of here before they got infected.

When he opened the next door, he gasped at the large blender in front of him. It looked familiar… the dark control panel, the glass cage, the strange machinery, everything inside this room was too familiar.

"The Kraang lab? In the middle of nowhere?"

Mikey squeezed himself to get into the lab. When he saw the bright purple stuff here, he shook his fists in triumph. "Kraang! I knew it! I miss our pink alien!"

"Quiet!" Leo warned. It's too good to be true. If the Kraang was here, he didn't want to get their attention easily. He turned around to find any movement in the dark but found none. "It seems nobody is here."

Mikey followed him. He looked at the panel and touched it, and then he realized he shouldn't do it. He took his hand off like it burned, but nothing happened. The power was off so he didn't set out the alarm. He sighed in relief as he rubbed his palms together. "Look at the dust, bro. This lab must be abandoned for some time."

 _But why?_ Leo wondered. It seemed like no one attacked them, they just left, but why they had to leave? Then he stopped at the square glass shape on the table, staring at it as he said out loud. "I remember this glass cage in Shredder's headquarter. It's for-"

"Get away from me!"

The shot rang through the lab. He quickly ran behind the giant monitor. In distant, someone was shouting from the outside. Leo glanced at his little brother who was behind the panel, eyes wide, holding nunchucks tightly. He didn't blame Mikey for getting edgy. Guns could attract clickers or hunters.

 _'Wait here,'_ He mouthed a silent order and went ahead to find human outside.

The man was on the pile of crates, holding the gun. There was a body lying on the ground, still twitching. He waved the gun around ready to shoot again, his eyes wavering and unfocused. Judging from his torn shirt, this man was more like a survivor than a hunter. Leo tugged his hood, making sure his unnatural skin was concealed before yelled back.

"Hey."

The reaction was immediate. The man followed his voice and tried to aim at his position. But Leo was hiding in the shadows. He didn't want to approach human when he wasn't in the right mind.

"Who's there!?"

"Chill, pal. I'm not clicker. Hear me? I'm talking, and it's not your imaginary talk."

"Stay away!"

"Hey, I'm not your enemy."

"Are you one of them? Show yourself!"

He thought for a moment before complied. "Okay. Just don't shoot."

Leo raised his hands above his head and walked out to the light. Mikey tried to follow him but he shook his head. The man lowered the gun. It seemed that he was glad to see another living man beside himself because he clumsily climbed down the pile and almost ran into Leo. He fell on his knees and tried to catch his breath.

"Hey, it's okay," Leo put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Do you know what happened here?"

"They-They left us to die!"

"Who?" Leo asked. Although he had an idea, he wanted to hear some confirmation.

"Those men in the black suit. Said they're from Fireflies."

"The Kraang was here," Leo muttered under his breath. The man had confirmed his suspicion. If the Kraang was here maybe they didn't have to go all the way to Colorado. They could go back home early. "How long since they left this place?"

"I don't know. I'm stuck here for weeks. I-I escaped from the room. I don't want to die."

"Hey, calm down. We can help," Leo patted his shoulder. "Just tell us where that room is."

This time the man looked straight at his eyes. Leo was a little nervous. They were sitting too close and he was sure the man could figure out that he wasn't entirely human. But apparently having green face didn't bother him. The man grabbed his shoulders and shook him a few times. "Are you crazy!? You can't go there anymore. They're all here. There's nothing left. They tried to burn us alive but they failed. Those things killed some of them so they retreated and left us to die here..."

Mikey chose the right timing to join in. "Wow, now I can't get the image of Kraang clicker out of my head. But maybe they're not scary? Since they have short limbs and only pinky brain, the mushroom might root them to the ground-"

Leo glared at him, shutting him up. He didn't need the man to get startled from another green face. It was clear that this man already had a screw loose, he didn't want Mikey to frighten him further. Then he asked the man again. "Where is the room?"

"O-Over there," the man pointed at the white building behind him. When Leo tried to get up, he grabbed his arm. "Don't go. Trust me. I don't want to die don't want to die I have to get out!"

"Please calm down," Leo tried to remove his hand, but suddenly the man took a knife out of nowhere and tried to slash his arm, releasing him in process. Both of them froze. Mikey drew the nunchucks quickly, just in case, yeah, just in case he needed to knock some common sense into this man. But then he quickly ran from them to get out of this place.

"What's wrong with you?" Mikey yelled after him, annoyed. "Hey!"

"Ignore him, Mikey. He's already lost it." Leo rubbed his arm and turned to look at the said room. It was actually the white building, the large garage door was sealed shut, but that didn't mean they couldn't get in. But before they went on the agonizing scream from the man pierced through the air. Mikey spun to see a group of mushroom heads running toward them.

 _Wait a minute. It can run that fast?_

His big brother was already used to this kind of situation. Leo wasted no time to grab the top of his shell and drag him to the wall, trying to get out of their sight. He quickly used the grappling hook to get them to the roof safely.

Mikey ran to the other side of the roof to find a possible route to get out of here, but he stopped mid-way.

"Umm, Leo?"

"What is it?"

His head went blank, unable to say anything. Leo walked from behind and about to say something but shut his mouth immediately when he saw the amount of zombies in the ground.

"Son of a broccoli…"

The garage door on the other side of the building was wide open. The man probably broke it from the inside to escape. A few broken Kraang droids scattered on the ground below. It seemed that they had paid the price for being too slow to escape. Those mushroom heads could walk freely out and in the building. He wasn't sure how many of them still inside, but at least _two hundred_ were on the ground in front of him. But he didn't hear clicking sounds at all. They made a sound from their throats similar to human sound. They were different from clickers. Hunters usually called it stalker, the earlier version of the infected. They still had a human brain and an aggressive instinct from the fungi, making them deadly killer. Their eyes weren't completely blind as the fungal plates just began to grow only on half of their heads, they could partially see.

And to his utter horror, unlike clickers that used echolocation, they could _see_ him.

"What's the plan, bro?" Mikey squeaked, trying to stand still as much as he could. If he didn't make a sudden move maybe they would think he was a turtle statue.

"Fallback," He still wanted to know why there were so many infected here, but nothing worth facing an army of a new type of zombie, except...

His breath caught in his throat when he saw a single bright rainbow crystal lied innocently among zombie hordes. The pieces of Kraang droid and small triangle device that he had seen it before were next to it.

 _Kraang's crystal. And the portal device!_

 _Again, it seems too good to be true, it feels like a trap. But the Kraang isn't here anymore, how can it be a trap?_

Leo gritted his teeth, making a decision in his head. Mikey held his breath when he followed Leo's gaze and saw it.

"I'll go down alone."

"Umm, Leo? We both should go together since they _saw_ us." Mikey whimpered as he turned to see behind him. His eyes widened when he heard a croaking sound coming closer. They were following them and trying to get to the roof. "And they're coming to eat us now!"

Mikey was hugging his nunchucks, seeking for a little comfort. Their movements were sluggish like zombies he had seen in the movies, but when a hundred of them moving at the same time it was kinda terrifying. His eyes darted to the right side of the roof. They could cross to the next building. But if they wanted to retrieve that device safely they needed to come up with a plan. He heard the katana being drawn, Leo frowned at the first stalker on the roof. Physically, it wasn't different from clicker but it could run faster because it had one eye working, it didn't have to wait for an echo sound to find a prey.

Without hesitation, he cut off its head clean. The fight must be finished quickly as the second, third, fourth stalker kept climbing to the roof. They couldn't stay on the roof forever.

"What will we do now!?" Mikey asked while hitting its face with his nunchucks.

"Jump to the next roof. I'll follow you!"

"Leo, we can't leave that portal device!"

"I know! Going to Dimension X is better than here! But we can't fight our way through them. They're too many!"

It didn't matter if those stalkers on the ground heard the commotion on the roof since they could see them running across the building. When one stalker saw them, it croaked, and the rest heard it and followed them like a swarm of ants. Oh god, soon it would be two hundred zombies against two turtles. He was certain even Super Shredder wouldn't survive this mayhem.

Suddenly those things flowed out everywhere. They climbed so fast the roof under his feet rumbled. Mikey stumbled when zombie hordes broke through the door on his right side and started running at him. He made a quick turn and jumped to another nearby building. The minute he was separated from Leo made the hordes focusing only on his big brother.

 _Urgh! At least they can't jump._

"Mikey! What're you doing over there!?" Leo shouted when he realized his little brother wasn't behind him.

"Trying to stay alive, bro!" Mikey shouted back, rolling and getting on his feet. "Please tell me you have a plan!"

"I'll lure all of them. You go back for that portal piece!"

Leo looked over his shoulder and found that most of zombies in the open space near the white building were gone, leaving the broken parts of the droids and portal device untouched. His gaze met Mikey's for a brief moment, then Mikey nodded, eyes turned white as he did a backflip off the roof and landed softly on the ground.

He was worried about Leo, but the only thing he could do now was to get that portal device and get out of here. He had to trust him like Leo trusted him to get the device.

"Come on! I'm here!" Leo shouted at them, making loud noise as much as he could to attract them. Stalkers ran and screamed, hands reaching out for him. It took everything he had learned to fight back the group. Smoke pellets and shuriken flew out, the twin katana swirled at them. He just needed to buy some time for Mikey.

The small shadow of his little brother was creeping toward the portal device. When he was out in open, two stalkers wiped its head toward him and lunged at him. Mikey smirked, he could finish them quickly.

"Time to get our ticket to home," Mikey switched his weapon into Kusarigama and spun the chain. "Incoming!"

The sickle knocked a mushroom out of it, so to speak. Mikey ran to retrieve his prize from the ground. It was really the Kraang portal device, a little banged up but still in one piece.

 _Yes! Yes! I got it! Finally!_

No time for victory dance, he needed to get back to Leo. He realized he was too far from his brother and couldn't see him from here. Suddenly he heard a deafening noise like the whole building collapsed. Panicked, Mikey ran back with the portal device in his hand.

 _Did the roof collapse because of the overload? How many zombies are up there to make the concrete roof gave way? More importantly, where's my big bro!?_

"Leo!"

Mikey ran to find his brother inside. This building was similar to the first one, the field hospital, unlike the first building this one had Kraang's experiment like needles and large empty blender. A row of beds and oil barrels that was now under the debris.

 _That man said they tried to burn this place. I guess their experiment has gone awry. What're they trying to do with zombies anyway?_

Then he heard snaps and pops and purple smoke covered the area, some stalkers were survived the fall and staggered toward him. Someone called his name from behind.

"Mikey! Run!"

He turned his head to the exit and found Leo covered in red and dirt, sweating and panting, but not bitten. Probably the first one who faced hundreds of zombies and came out clean, well, not literally.

"I got it!" Mikey ran and waved the device in his hand. Leo's expression brightened, but quickly twisted into disgust when stalkers rose from the wreckage and roared loudly as if they were angry.

Well, they were _definitely_ angry at him.

Mikey ran along side with him.

"Did you blow up the roof?"

"I have no choice. There're too many."

"Well, then let's do it again!"

"Huh?"

 _This is our chance to go home._

Mikey would do anything, and he meant _anything_ to get out of this dimension. If he had to fry those zombies hordes to get out, he would do it in a heartbeat. He stopped, swinging the sickle and pulling the large blender behind them to smash the hordes. The oil spilled all over the place, it only needed a little spark.

 _The nightmare is over. We are going home!_

"Mikey!"

He was turning to ask Leo when one stalker fell from the beam above his head. It fell from the roof and then to beam. The structure couldn't carry its weight anymore so it fell down on him. It clung on his shell with mouth open wide. Instinctively he was about to elbow it but its fangs crushed into his flesh.

The sharp pain rushed from his right arm, his eyes widened in shock. _No, no, no, it's not happening!_ Before he could do anything, the katana pierced through its head and wrenched it head off the body, the upper jaw flew away from his bicep, but the lower jaw hung for a moment, fangs deep in his skin before it fell sickeningly on the ground.

Mikey paled, holding his arm shakingly, his legs gave in and finally he collapsed. The Kraang portal device was still in his hand, but he just held it, not caring about it anymore. He wished he got broken nail like Leo said before. Unable to do anything, he cried out for his big brother.

"Leo!"

"MIKEY!"

His brother swept him up into his arms as the building exploded, sending them both to the open area outside. Stalker that bit him was beaten to a pulp, but it wasn't the last one. With some miracle, those things survived the fire and staggered toward them. Leo gritted his teeth, his breath ragged. But he couldn't rest, not yet, not when Mikey was trembling in his arms.

So he ran.

Leo carried him until the manufacturing plant was out of sight, they could only see smoke and hear the chain explosion from distant. Leo slowed down to a jog because his legs were tired, adrenaline washed off from his system, replacing with a horrid truth. Finally, his knees dropped on the grass near a marsh. He didn't even remember he was off the road.

Suddenly Mikey scrambled to his feet and ran to the marsh. The portal device in his clutch fell on the grass behind him, but both of them didn't care. The price of it was too high. Leo yelled after him and seized his shoulder, preventing him from doing something reckless.

But Mikey didn't hear him. He was reciting every word he said to Leo in his head.

 _'It's not wrong. That person isn't Sam anymore'_

 _'It's nobody's fault.'_

 _'Everything's gonna be okay.'_

 _Such a hypocrite._

The water washed away blood and dirt on his wound, but the bite mark was still there, unwavering. It was real. He was bitten. Suddenly he couldn't take it anymore. The long painful scream came out from his throat before he knew it. He didn't care if those things would hear him, it didn't matter, he was going to become one of them soon. He screamed and screamed even if his throat was sore, feeling like his voice cord was ripping in shreds.

He felt someone holding him from behind. Green shaky arms reminded him that Leo was here, with him, crying. Oddly enough, his big brother's presence usually soothed him, but not this time. He rubbed his right arm repetitively, trying in vain to wash the mark away as if it was a water painting. He did it until his skin was red and swollen.

But this time the pain didn't go away.

* * *

 **Author's note:** _Issun saki wa yami_ = Expect the unexpected.

This chapter is inspired by Days Gone trailer, Mushin By Robert L. Akikta, and Left 4 Dead: DAM IT. I'd like to remind you that zombie hunting isn't my fav genre but I watch them for a research. You know, I like stuff with mind blowing (not literally) like 'would you kindly' in Bioshock *grins*.

NOW LET'S KILL SOMEBOD- /shot

I know I throw a flashback most of the time, though It works better when it's in my head...

To Guest - Definitely! I will throw it in somewhere, actually this chapter I introduce Stalker (but Leo doesn't know its name so it ends up as zombie lol). I have to think how they fight Bloater too because that walking mushroom is quite hard to defeat…

Honestly, I'm not sure about Joel and Ellie. Currently I might have a plan for one of them. But I need to mess with the major LoU timeline if I want both of them. I still don't know where to put them… but let's keep your hope until I can come up with something. All I can say that I have a big plan for Fall season *winks*.


	15. Fall: Chapter 15

**Author's note:** Off topic, LoU Part 2 IS OFFICIALLY COMING YAY! Omg omg I'm so excited. I hope I can finish this fic before it comes out lol. On the other hand, LoU movie is 'on hold' at the moment (yes! It'll be a movie! ...hopefully). They're having an issue about movie script I think. Oh well, I can wait, at least we have fanfiction.

Sorry that the update might be late because I'm busy with life… I write and delete this chapter many times because I want to get their voices right. Some dialogues are inspired from IDW TMNT universe (it's awesome!). Raph's words are from a song "Rocksteady" from Epik High. Thanks again for reading. Happy holidays!

* * *

" _Damnit!_ "

Mikey winced as Leo threw the portal device on the floor frustratedly. They were quiet for an hour. The first word that came out of his mouth was the foul word. Leo rarely cursed, actually he had never heard his big brother cursed even when he argued with Raph.

They weren't in the mood to set the tent. Shell, they weren't in the mood for _anything_. Their thought was to get to the shelter, any building that didn't occupy with those nasty things. After wandering on the road, Leo managed to run into the old motel.

Mikey sat on the floor and leaned on the wall, trying to get himself smaller. There was only one rusty metal bed frame in the room. Who ever came here before took the mattress out. Weird. But he didn't care. The floor was comfortable enough. Most of the time he gazed through the window, looking out for clickers and other weird types of zombies. Meeting new kind of zombies made his imagination gone wild. He wondered if there were some creatures that came out of Resident Evil game. He regretted playing it, now he couldn't get the image of Licker which was a zombie with long reptile-like tongue out of his head.

But he snapped back to reality when Leo threw the device away like a garbage, the very same device he risked his life for. He wasn't angry at Leo though. Because they had tried to turn the device on many times but failed, maybe it was already broken, that was why the Kraang left it behind. They tried to fix it, but without Donnie, they couldn't do anything.

If they could go back home, Donnie could help him. He would be the first person who made a cure for zombie virus. _Ha! Donnie is smart, of course he can help me._

But life wasn't a game. There was no shortcut, no cheat code, and if they tried to find one they would be punished like he was now. Mikey held his knees close to his plastron. As far as he knew (and learned through gaming), there was no cure, serum, medicine, or whatever to heal someone from zombie disease. And Donnie wasn't here to invent one. Leo tried everything he learned from sensei to help him. But healing mantra didn't work. He wished it worked, but zombie virus was different from snake venom. There was no cure in the movies, too.

Six hours. That was the extent of time before he turned.

 _So this is why Sam didn't tell Henry or him when he got infected. What would he say without alarming us? And what could we possibly do to help anyway? Maybe he just didn't want to tell them because he was afraid. I don't blame him, this is quite scary. Knowing you'll die within six hours. But maybe he didn't want to tell them because he hoped it'd get better, he thought he'd be alright._

 _But at least he should tell us. Because, you know, who wants to die alone anyway?_

Mikey shuddered. Waiting to die, waiting for the end to come. This wasn't something he imagines. Then again, wasn't he the main character? In the movies, the supporting character was supposed to die first, but he wasn't one of them, right?

 _I guess I'll be a sideline, B-team forever._

Wondered why he fell into this kind of situation, he looked at the portal device on the floor that fell next to his backpack. Oh yeah, his backpack. If only he listened to Leo and threw more comic books out, it would be lighter. His reflex might be faster. He would have avoided that zombie. But it was too late to realize his mistake. He was going to die because the backpack was heavy. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

"Let me see."

Mikey flinched when he felt Leo's hand caressing his cheek, wiping his tears with his thumb. He didn't remember when he started crying. Leo looked at the bandage on his right arm that wrapped the ugly bite mark underneath. Mikey rubbed his eyes and looked away. _What's the point to see it? I'll die anyway._

When he didn't respond, Leo used two hands to cup his cheeks, looking at him straight in the eyes. "Please let me see it."

Mikey saw the ocean blue eyes dimmed, hollow. This unsettled him a little because it looked like Leo was losing all hopes. Perhaps he did lose hopes since they knew the device would never work without Donnie. Maybe Leo wanted to see it as a confirmation, that they weren't dreaming, that it really happened. Mikey sighed and let his brother undo the bandage. They fell into quiet moment again.

"It stops bleeding already…" Leo murmured. Again, Mikey didn't respond. For the first time in his life, he didn't know what to say. He tried to avert his eyes when Leo looked at him. Then he felt Leo's forehead pressed on his plastron.

"Mikey," Leo's voice rumbled from his chest. "Talk to me."

"Umm…" Mikey tried, really, but his mind was blank. He couldn't think about positive things. Not sure what to say, he contemplating the bite mark on his arm. The redness painted the area of the wound, but it didn't hurt anymore. He should say something about it, right? Mikey pursed his lips for a moment then said quietly. "I think this type of infection is different from snake venom."

Well, he _tried_.

Leo's hand moved to rest on his plastron. He took it as a sign to continue his monolog.

"So, umm, maybe that's a reason why healing mantra doesn't work. I mean, zombie virus isn't limited only in bloodstream. It's like you have no idea how it works but if you get bitten you will turn anyway. And, umm, this type of infection is different from zombie movie. Like, mushroom grows out of their head. So it isn't just about blood. Actually in Resident Evil game... You remember it right? A horror game that I need Raph to sit down and play with me. Right. In that game zombies are mutated from T-virus. I remember that 'cause Raph teased me that T-virus is a short name for turtle virus, then I thought zombies and turtles are the same things so I cried at the top of my his lungs. That's when you came in and scolded him and told him to tell me it's not true. But I didn't stop crying and in the end Master Splinter came out to explain that zombies are not real... I just didn't wanna be zombie, you know..."

"Mikey…" Leo whispered. He remembered this tone. Leo used it when he felt Mikey was talking too much.

"Hey, you asked me to say something…"

"What should I do now?" Leo said weakly.

Mikey opened his mouth and closed it. _Do I look like I have an answer? Why do you ask me? You're my leader. You should tell me what to do! We should get home by now if that alien portal device works. But it doesn't!_

 _...actually I want to tell you that it's okay. It's not hurt anymore. But it'll be a lie. I'm doomed, and you're stuck here with me._

He hugged his older brother, hoping to help him get better. Leo never felt so weak in his arms. Leo's presence in his memories always strong and vibrant, not gloomy like this. His chin touched the top of Leo's head. The skin was too cold, or maybe he was too warm?

"...I...err..." Mikey hesitated. "I feel a little bit warm."

Leo pulled off immediately and moved to touch his forehead. "You have a fever. Let's get you lie down." His brother was about to get up to arrange a spot for their sleeping when he blurted out.

"But I don't want to rest. What if I turn while I'm sleeping?"

The words slipped out of his mouth easily. Leo froze, looking at him with wide eyes. His expression was mixed between fear, distressing, and more importantly, guilt. Mikey gulped, snapping his mouth shut. The uncomfortable silence drenched them.

It was like a countdown. They were not waiting for him to get better like when they got sick. Sure, he was sick, and it would get worse every minute. Mikey would eventually lose his life after the countdown ended.

He decided to break the silence since he didn't want to be quiet until the last moment of his life.

"You know," Mikey said, rubbing his cold arm. "Sam didn't have a chance to say goodby-"

"Stop."

He stared at Leo with his mouth left hanging. He knew Sam and Henry were a forbidden topic. They tended to avoid even if he could never forget their friend. But hearing Leo stop him before he could talk about them irked him, especially when he was in the same position like Sam. Mikey frowned.

"Why?! I don't want to wait until it's too late."

"No," Leo's voice was so low he almost didn't catch it. "Please, I… I can't..."

His older brother was begging him. It was a rare sight. Leo never begged, never showed his weakness. Everything was so wrong in this world and he blamed the world for changing his brother. Mikey witnessed his own brother succumbed to self-condemnation before his eyes and realized he couldn't break his heart any further.

"...'kay."

Mikey thought Leo would stay quiet for another hour, but it seemed he was wrong.

"I thought a lot about our endings."

Mikey tore his gaze from the window to look at his brother, raising eye ridge. Leo sat next to him on the floor and pulled his knees up to his chest, staring into space.

"After we're back from space, Raph confronted me and asked me about what you called 'stupid act'," A tiny smile found its way on his face before he continued. "I told him everything since he promised not to tell you."

 _Oh. So this is one of older-brothers-only secret._ _But why he's telling me now? Oh, right, I told him he can tell me anything if he wants to. Now I have to be a good listener._ _At least Leo's monolog sounds better than mine._

The only problem he had was he was left out of the loop. "Wait, what? Only me?"

Leo pondered for a moment before he answered. "Actually I let him decide when he's going to tell you. I just asked him not to tell you right away."

While Leo was confessing, he didn't look at him at all. Mikey didn't mind as long as Leo was speaking. He wondered what he would see if he looked into Leo's eyes now. The tight note in his voice told him how heartfelt this confession was.

"I told him about our lives, our enemies we've encountered until now. I told him about my nightmares, the way we could have died in the past. They're not beautiful. if we keep going like this, one day we're going to die. It could be any of us. No matter how good we are, one mistake and then we're gone." Leo hung his head low. "I can't let it happen. Not if I can prevent it."

Mikey dared to ask. "And what did he say to you?"

"He told me I was wrong. I didn't have to walk on the road alone."

Mikey raised an eye ridge again. Leo sighed.

"Okay, his exact words are 'you know it's like incest to fuck yourself over and over'."

 _Ough. Kudos to that punchline._ Mikey grinned. He could imagine Raph saying that but with more physical manners.

Leo sighed again, reeling his mind back to the topic at hand. "I know he meant well. But it's not easy. If I know there's something _I_ can do, I'd do it without doubts. Then he told me I was selfish, that someday I'll be dead because of recklessness. Of course I thought about a chance of dying in the fight, trying to stay alive until the very end. I thought about jumping between you and the bullet to protect you even if it would cost my life. But never like this. I never thought we would die because some virus can turn us into a monster."

The word 'monster' stung. Because that was what he was going to be soon. A monster. Zombie monster, or mushroom, Mikey wasn't sure. Leo hugged his knees, eyes squeezed shut. It seemed like he tried to block Mikey away.

"I'm not prepared for this. I can't help you even if I'm here by your side. All I can do is watching you slipping away."

Mikey's heart sank. He couldn't do it. His own brother didn't want his goodbye when they still had time. Henry never got it from Sam. He always thought if Sam said goodbye properly, Henry wouldn't have killed himself.

Mikey stared at Leo for full minute but Leo still buried his face on his knees. When he was lost at words, hugging seemed to be a better answer. He put his arm on Leo's body and tugged him close.

* * *

He wondered what would happen if he said goodbye.

There were two options left for his big brother. First, Leo still had a chance to go back to their world where Master Splinter, Raph, and Donnie were waiting for him. Second, as much as he hated it, but if Leo didn't want to go back alone, he could stay until the very end and give up his life after he turned, just like Henry did. He didn't want that. One turtle short was bad enough. If both Leo and he were gone forever leaving two brothers back home, he was sure their family would fall apart. At least he wanted Leo to go back to tell them what happened here.

 _The next question is, I want to be killed before or after I turn._

The choices he had, however, were also two options. He could spend the last moment with his brother until mushroom grew out of his head, or he could… end his life before it happened. Mikey hadn't thought about this particular idea much, mainly because he was afraid, too coward to kill himself. But if he didn't, Leo would be forced to kill him anyway. He couldn't imagine how he felt when he had to kill one of their brothers. He didn't want to think about it.

He thought about Henry and Sam. At least his brother knew he was infected. They still had time to talk, unlike Sam. But it seemed that Leo didn't want to talk yet...

It was getting dark outside. The room fell into the cold darkness. Leo didn't make a fire, perhaps because they stayed indoor. But it was cold and he probably asked for warm clothes later. His red shirt from New York was destroyed from the fight in the factory. Mikey could hardly see anything inside the room. He relied on hearing skill, but Leo was a better ninja compared to him. He couldn't hear his breathing or his steps. Leo was building the wall to block him off to control his own emotions. It was like he faded into the darkness.

It felt like Mikey was all alone.

Mikey felt a bit dizzy from the fever so he leaned his head on the wall, rubbing his right arm. Leo used his own cloak and human clothes to let him lie down but he refused. He didn't like an idea of being motionless. Mikey also had to stay awake since he didn't want his brother to do something impulsive. At least he heard a soft footstep echoed through the room. He could tell Leo was still here, but couldn't pinpoint where he was. Well, he didn't want to stay quiet until the end of his life, so he spoke.

"You know, Raph turned into a plant one time. Maybe it's not bad. I'll have mushroom face like that pizza face."

There was a long gap until he heard Leo's voice. "You promised me you won't make a joke about mushroom again…"

"Oh right. I'm sorry. Couldn't resist. You remember Raph being a plant right? He's soooo cute with puppy eyes."

"Yeah," Suddenly Leo appeared next to him, draping his arm over his shoulder to pull him close. Even in close space he couldn't see any expression on his face, it was too dark. "I also remember that Donnie fixed him."

 _Here we go,_ Mikey thought. _I am trying to make it better talk and one minute later he ruins it. It's like we're back at the start point._

He felt Leo digging his fingers on his shoulder, shaking. Leo sighed audibly, finally withdrawn.

"Donnie should be here with you, not me. He can make a cure for the zombie virus. Well, he probably knows how to make the portal and takes you home in a few days. And me? I make us stuck here for a _month_. What can I do now? All my skills are useless. I can't even protect you."

Mikey thought he should say something. He didn't know if it would make the situation better or worse, but he had to. Otherwise Leo would put himself deep in the sea of guilt. "Don't say that. You're right. My backpack's too heavy. If I can move faster-"

"Stop," Leo interrupted him, pulling him closer. "You know it's not about the backpack."

 _Then what is it?_ Mikey wanted to ask, but he knew that anything he said Leo would turn it into his own fault. Mikey sighed. He hated this. _Who would have thought the Mikester is now on his deathbed?_

He tried to think of happy moments they shared together but it made him depressed even more. He missed the lair, missed pranking his family and joking around with his friends. He _missed_ his New York, missed pizza and everything. Shell, he even _missed_ Kraang. He would trade all his action figures and comic books in exchange of meeting one of them here.

He would be the first mutant turtle who had mushroom growing on his head. Not pleasant sight. At all. _And what can I do after I turned? Walking on the road aimlessly until I find a human to nom-nom? Oh right, Leo wouldn't let me do it_ … Speaking of which, he had to ask what Leo would do if he turned, even if he was afraid of the answer…

Mikey tilted his head slightly, looking at Leo. His older brother wasn't a big fan of getting intimate with their brothers physically, having to hold his reputation as the leader. But at this moment Leo didn't care anymore. As if he didn't trust himself enough to speak, Leo just pulled him close and remained quiet. Mikey gathered his strength and whispered to him.

"Leo, please don't kill yourself," _like Henry did._ It was left unsaid but they both knew it. Leo quickly released him and looked at him in the eyes but didn't say anything, so Mikey finished his sentence quickly. "Donnie and Raph need you, bro."

Mikey expected at least an accusing stare from him, but he got nothing. Leo's gaze was blank and his expression was unreadable. Something told him that it wasn't because he restrained his emotions, it was like he was totally calm, accepting his fate. That was where Mikey began to panic. He grabbed Leo's arms and shook them.

"Come on bro, don't-" Mikey swallowed before continue. "Please don't do it, okay? Promise me you'll get back home safely."

Even if it was dark, a slight movement of Leo's lips caught his eyes. But Leo was keeping silent which made him super nervous.

"Leo? Leo! Promise me!"

Mikey was ready to shake an answer out of his brother when Leo whispered back.

"What about you?"

 _What about me? I don't even have a future, shell, I don't even have tomorrow._

"What about me?" Mikey laughed nervously. "I don't know anymore. How am I supposed to feel right now?"

"We promised we'll share everything," Leo said tiredly. He kept his stoic look, freezing his face enough to nullify his emotions. Mikey gulped. He _knew_ what he wanted to say but was too afraid to say it out loud. His mind was a mess.

 _What can you say when something gets inside your mind and destroy from within?_

"I'm scared," _Oh god, is that my voice? Why is it so broken?_ "Is it how people feel when they're going to die?"

If they were on different situation, he would have been impressed by Leo's calmness. "It's okay to be scared, Mikey."

His mind snapped off like a light switch, just like that. The wall crumbled down. He didn't want to do this to Leo. He didn't want to make him feel even more guilty, but he couldn't help it, he was weak, too weak to face the end alone. His grip on his brother's arms tightened, his tears flood his cheeks, his lips trembling.

"I don't wanna die."

There, he said it, and when he started he knew he couldn't stop.

"I don't wanna die. I don't want to become one of them. Don't let me turn, bro. Don't let me die. Please… I'll do anything you want. I'll be good. I won't prank anyone again. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. If I did we wouldn't be in this situation." The pleading cries for his brother echoed through the rooms. Leo held him still, looking at him with soft eyes. It was a simple gesture to let him know that big brother was here, listening, comforting him.

He knew he asked what Leo could not offer. He realized he was giving the worst torment to his older brother. Leo was seeing one of their brothers dying but couldn't do anything. If he could swap their place, he knew Leo would do it in instant. But he couldn't stop. Tears were streaming down his face. How many hours had passed? How long had he got left?

"I wanna see dad again before I die..."

With that, Leo broke down. His brother never cried in front of him before. Mikey startled by this. His wail lessened into small sobs and hiccups, while Leo was crying openly, brokenly. The thought of not be able to see their family again brought him to tears. The burden on his brother's shoulder was crumbling down, buried him alive. Mikey realized Leo needed him more than ever. He gave him a pat of sympathy on his shell before pulling him into his plastron.

Somehow seeing Leo choking on tears was worse than choking on blood.

* * *

 _This time his dream was weird. It wasn't about mushroom zombies. It began with squirrelanoid in cockroach costume. It was as big as the white mutated cockroach they met before. It terrified him. But Master Splinter came and punched it to dust. He was happy. He missed father. He missed everyone. Maybe after he died he could dream about them forever. He stirred in his sleep and then his dream ended._

* * *

Mikey found himself under the layer of clothes and blankets. He didn't remember sleeping. A fever probably kicked in, making him exhausted. He quickly rubbed his injured arm, it was still there. Man, his dream was better than reality. He got up slowly and called his brother.

"Leo?"

"I'm here."

There was a dim light in the room. He saw Leo sitting near the candlelight with the portal device in his left hand. Probably trying in vain to fix it. Leo seemed to collect himself back. No dried tears on his face. His brother put the device on the floor and walked towards him with concerns.

"You just sleep for fifteen minutes. How are you?"

 _So I still have time, that's good._

"I… err… feel better? But it's cold, dude."

Leo kneeled down beside him to arrange the messy pile on Mikey before lying down next to him. Mikey blinked as his older brother pulled him close.

"Better?"

Mikey nodded and hummed with content. They lied snug and warm amid the blankets. But he just woke up and didn't want to sleep right away, so he shifted a bit to bury his face in his brother's neck.

"Please tell Donnie that I hide his textbooks under my bed. Raph… So many pranks I want to do with him..." Mikey murmured. "And tell father I love him."

Leo fell into silence again. He seemed really good at it.

"Bro, say something."

"..."

"Come on, bro. Anything's fine. You know, it's high time to have heart-to-heart."

"...I."

"Yeah?"

"I won't give up on you."

Mikey swallowed a lump in his throat, fully understood the meaning behind that words. _He doesn't want me to say goodbye because he doesn't want to give up._

 _But what can you do if you don't wanna give up?_

Leo was quiet again. He still had time to be with his brother and he didn't want to waste it by sleeping. So he changed the topic. "Hey, now you can tell me anything. I'll take your secret to the grave, literally I guess. It's safe, dude."

He felt Leo kissing the top of his head but didn't say anything. _Well, it's up to me again._

"Okay, mine is when we're ten. Remember when you found a limited version of Captain Ryan figure in the sewers? You're so happy to have the first collection of him, but then you lost it. We helped you to find it but no such luck. Then it mysteriously came back to your room and Donnie thought it was possessed by ghost or something. Actually, it was me who dropped it into the pool in the first place and took it back."

Leo's voice broke the silence in the room. "You _did_ that?"

 _Of course, even now the best topic to bring Leo out of his shell is Captain Ryan._ _Typical._

"Yeah, and I'm sorry. Wingnut and Screwloose wanted to play with him so I couldn't resist. I, err, let them fight with Captain Ryan and dropped it into the pool. It was accident, dude! I was scared you'd mad at me so I didn't tell you and I kinda forgot it. I remembered it a week later, though." Mikey finished meekly. "That's all about me. Well, you have some terrible secret to share?"

His big brother just held him closer, whispering near his ear slit.

"I love you."

He felt his heart leaped for no reason. Maybe because he didn't expect _this_. _Getting affection physically and verbally in the same day? Argh, not that I hate it, but it means Fearless Leader is losing his mind._ Mikey chuckled uncomfortably. "That's not a secret, bro."

"I know."

They fell into silence again. Mikey shut his eyes and breathed out.

"I love you too." He felt the drowsiness slowly claimed him. Mikey let his thoughts stir and grow still. So many questions without answers, but he could wait for now. "Leo… I'm glad you're with me. Just… don't blame yourself."

Then he fell asleep once again.

* * *

He didn't know that Leo lied to him.

He didn't sleep for fifteen minutes. It was almost midnight. It meant Mikey had less than an hour to turn.

Leo let Mikey cuddle him. His little brother's soft breath was on his neck. A vulnerable part of the body. He knew, but he didn't care if Mikey woke up again and bit him. Leo exhaled against the green skin, silently submit to his fate.

So he waited.


	16. Fall: Chapter 16

In the end, Leo didn't sleep for three days.

Tantō twirling in his hand, eyes glancing outside. He was sitting beside their bed for god knows how long, staring at the line of clouds in the red sky. Probably evening, he wasn't sure. He didn't remember the last time he went outside, like his entire life reduced into a dark square room. It was only three days but he already lost all senses. At least he could still count. The sun and moon took its turn to shine in the sky three times already. Why did he has to count? Was it important? He tried to remember the reason for counting days and nights but couldn't. And why was he holding tantō? Was there an enemy?

His eyes were unable to focus. Everything was a gaussian blur. He caught a green and orange color in front of him. Probably Mikey. His little brother was still sleeping.

 _Ah_ , he remembered Mikey got a high fever. He had tried to ease his fever, but somewhere inside his head told him that it was no use. He wondered why. He wished Donnie and Raph were here. How come there was only two of them? Oh, right, they were trying to find a way home. Leo stared at the tantō in his hand. His own words repeated in his head.

 _It's not the easy way out._

He wondered what Henry thought in the time like this. The scene where he fell into his demise was imprinted behind his eyelids. Sam died, and Henry followed him shortly afterward. The man's decision was made in split second. No hesitation. He just pulled a trigger and done. Leo couldn't save them.

 _What should I do now?_

He blinked once, staring at tantō. His sleep deprived and his brain didn't function correctly, otherwise he would have known what to do. He didn't even remember why he couldn't sleep. _Nightmare? No. Homesick? Really?_ He got no answers.

 _It's my fault._

He couldn't remember what happened. But he believed that voice. It probably was his fault they were so far away from home.

 _It's not the end._

Of course it _wasn't_. He was still breathing, alive. And still counting even though he lost the reason to do so. Like he was doing a countdown, waiting for something to happen. He tried to recall his memories, but his head hurt. His body told him to lie down but his heart refused. Exhausted, yes, but still alive, so this was not the end.

 _Yeah, not the end. Not until I put it through his heart._

 _...what?_

Was he going to kill someone? But that was wrong, taking one's life was definitely wrong. He remembered when Splinter taught them about pressure points on their body, the efficient way to stop the opponent. But when his brothers were out of the dojo, Splinter called him and taught him a private lesson. Deadly spots, the way to kill the opponent with bare hands. One fatal strike could send the enemy to death. _Why me?_ he asked, father smiled sadly at him and told him that if he wanted to protect the family, sometimes killing was the only choice.

He didn't remember what he replied back, but the thought of killing made him uncomfortable.

The edge of tantō was glinting. Leo moved his hand and pretended to attack the invincible enemy in front of him. He remembered that lesson. If they were fighting in the close range, he could aim straight at the eyes, one of the deadly spots. Twisting and gouging their eye socket with tantō. Easy but loud. Because his enemy would scream from the pain. Or he could move behind the opponent, quickly slicing their throat. Stealth way to kill. He could do it. But kill who?

 _So he won't suffer anymore._

His head throbbing, his memories surfaced. He saw his little brother smiled at him, but he felt his own tear rolling down on his cheek. Why wasn't he happy to see Mikey? Then the image morphed into a gruesome face.

He knew that face, He remembered that clicking sound. The one he had to kill. Then he began to panic. What? No! Why would he kill his own brother? This was wrong. Everything was wrong. But he had to do it- to his little brother!? _Sam? Mikey? Sam, just one bullet and he was gone. What- I can't. Sam! Mikey…! I can't do this!_

 _You won't suffer either._

 _I…_

His eyes widened. He couldn't block the voice inside his head. His hand shaking, lips trembling. This was the end, he had been waiting for it.

 _If your brother is infected, would you do the right thing?_

Then he realized, that tantō in his hand was actually meant for himself.

.

.

"-eo! No! Keep that thing away!"

Like a kick back to reality, suddenly waking up from the nightmare. The green blob jumped at him, grabbing his arms. Leo startled. Out of instinct, he knocked whoever in front of him over, grabbed his shoulder, and pressed the blade on his throat. This motion stopped his opponent completely. Then the silence was back to the room again. His breathing was ragged, tears still on his face, teeth bared.

He tried to focus, but his vision was still blurred. There was no way he could see the person in front of him. He blinked again. Slowly, he could see a shape of the body. His brain weaved a line of details on that face, starting with the bright blue eyes.

He blinked again. It was not a mirror. The shade of blue was different from his. He knew this person. But it wasn't possible. Because his little brother was bitten three days ago- It could be a ghost, or he started losing his mind-

A timid voice registered his ear slits. This person was speaking. He could feel tantō moving up and down on his Adam's apple.

"Leo… It's me, Mikey."

 _Yes, I remember,_ he wanted to answer, _but are you real?_

They stared at each other for a long time. Mikey's legs began to go numb as Leo was holding him down, but one wrong move would cause a serious wound. Mikey gulped. He had yet to find a recognition in Leo's bloodshot eyes, so he only used his voice to guide his big brother back.

"Can-Can I hug you?"

He had to ask because he wasn't sure if he did it without permission, Leo would stab him, slicing his throat like he was about to do. If he moved too fast, Leo would think he became Clicker.

Mikey waited until the grip on his shoulders relaxed. Leo blinked again, tired.

Suddenly Mikey could breathe easier when tantō was removed, leaving a thin line of blood on his skin. He was about to say something when his older brother embraced him in instant. A clattering sound of tantō dropping on the cold floor echo through the room.

* * *

It was weird to see Leo turned into something resembling zombie, especially when he looked like zombie more than Mikey, who actually got bitten.

Definitely weird.

His brother looked horrible. Lack of sleep was slowly killing him. Dark circles grew under his bloodshot eyes. His hands kept shaking. His movement was like he ran on dying battery, well, except he could do some sloppy ninja move and put tantō at his throat a moment ago. He also looked like he didn't eat or drink anything at all despite they had enough canned food in the backpack. Worse of all, his big brother had been crying silently by the time he was awake. Had he not woke up, Leo would have done something very, _very_ stupid.

Mikey shuddered. He didn't want to think about what was going to happen if he didn't wake up.

While Leo stayed awake, Mikey had slept all day. The first day he was having a fever and couldn't remember much of it. His body was on fire, and he actually thought he was going to turn. But after slept for a day and a half, he woke up and found that he was fine. Still had a headache, but no mushroom on his head. Strange, because he remembered the day Sam turned, it was in the morning too. He looked at the sunrise outside the window on the next day and counted a number of hours. It already passed six hours, so why he still didn't turn? Too tired to think, he passed out again because of exhaust. Leo was sitting beside him the whole time.

At day two, Leo began to lose it.

The fact that Leo had been in the same spot every time he awake kinda disturbed him. It meant Leo hadn't slept at all, and it was confirmed just by looking at his big brother's face.

He thought it was just a dream, that he already changed into something else and his soul was still struck in his hallucination. But after his fever was gone, he felt unbelievable fine. If he already changed then he wouldn't crave for pizza, or some normal food. And if he really changed, he wouldn't be able to get _hungry_.

He would think about himself later. Leo became his priority.

"Are you okay? Hungry? I get up because my stomach is asking for food so I open grilled chicken can. Hope you don't mind. It tastes… _dull_. Well, that's what you get when it has long passed the expiration date. But I promise it tastes better than algae. That's our dark age, I think. Now it's better."

Leo just stared at him and parted his chapped lips slightly, trying to say something but couldn't.

Mikey fiddled with a can in his hands, wondering what he should do. He could try to feed his brother, but he wasn't sure what reaction he would get. Currently talking seemed to be the best solution to get Leo's attention. He didn't want to risk moving too fast or try to touch him again.

"Come on, bro. You gotta eat something." Mikey pleaded, putting his sad puppy eyes.

Leo twinged, like Mikey's voice hurt his eardrum, like he didn't deserve to hear it. His lips moved but Mikey couldn't catch it.

"Sorry, what?"

"Am I still dreaming?"

Leo mumbled, perhaps to himself, because in reality, Mikey would turn already, like Sam did.

Mikey quickly touched his head just in case but he found no mushroom, nothing was growing out of his head, so he was perfectly fine. He sighed, then pouted at Leo. When words fail, action speaks. So Mikey reached out at Leo's side, taking advantage that Leo still gazed somewhere behind his head, and moved his hand slowly to pinch his cheek. Hard.

The reaction was instant.

"Ow ow ow-!"

Harder.

" _OWowowow! Eikey stop it eurts!_ "

Leo swatted his hand away and rubbed his abused cheek, his tired eyes still managed to glare at little brother. Mikey grinned, finally getting Leo's attention. "Well that's good! If you can feel pain then you're not dreaming bro!"

Leo blinked, and this time he looked like he just saw _real_ Michelangelo in front of him.

"I'm not?"

"Pretty much awake to me, bro."

"But, how?"

Mikey looked nervous because he also didn't know the answer.

"I waited. I counted-I… I..." Leo sounded desperate, his hands shook uncontrollably as he touched Mikey's arm. "I _saw_ it."

Abruptly, Mikey yelped as Leo pulled him closer. The can fell to the floor loudly on the impact. He squeezed his eyes shut in case tantō was back. But Leo reached for his bandaged arm and fumbled to remove a wound dressing.

"Let me see it," Leo quietly chanted. "Let me see, let me see..."

Mikey let him do what he wanted. He also wanted to see it as a confirmation. The moment that a sharp pain from the bite rushed through his body, he thought it was the end. Apparently it wasn't, and he was grateful for whatever cure that helped him.

The dressing was messy since Leo just pulled it as quick as he could until he saw the light green skin under it. Both of them stared at the bite mark. The wound was healed nicely, no red swollen skin, just a little pink.

"It looks like… it's healing. No bleeding, just a scar of the bite mark." Leo whispered, he seemed sober after seeing it.

Mikey was no better. As far as he thought, he never saw any character in movies that recovered from zombie bite. His eyes widened "I… I can't believe it's real. I thought..." Mikey swallowed a lump in his throat. "I thought I was gone for good."

"You and me both." Leo sighed, before looking at him in the eyes. "Is it normal? I mean, in zombie movies or series you've watched."

Mikey shook his head. "We saw how Sam turned into one of them, bro. Maybe it doesn't work on us. I'm just glad that it can't change turtle into mushroom. I mean, kinda hard to cross species."

Despite his weariness, Leo gave him a tiny smile.

"You talk like Donnie."

"Yeah, I hang around him too much." Mikey chuckled. "Hey, Leo. Does it mean I'm immortal!?"

"You're immune." Leo corrected. "I don't know about mutagen much, but maybe because it's in our blood so the zombie disease couldn't inflect us?"

"If I'm immune then you are too."

"Let's not try that theory. I would be happy if we don't get bitten again." Leo patted on his shell before changing his expression into a lighter one. "Maybe because you've eaten too much junk food, including some… _disgusting_ cuisine so the disease can't attack your body."

Mikey blinked, not believing what he just heard. "Dude, are you trying to make a joke?"

"I… I am?" Leo tiled his head. He thought he was stating the fact. Either way, Mikey grinned widely at him and wrapped his arms around Leo's shoulders, pulling him into a hug. Leo wasted no time to collapse against him. It seemed the reality just crashed into him because his body began to shake as his voice quavered.

"Don't do something like this again. I don't think my heart can take it."

"...'kay."

When Mikey nuzzled his cheek, he felt the wetness. It was a second time he saw Leo cried. Mikey tried his best to sooth him as his own tears threatened to fall. He thought their roles were temporarily reversed, but he didn't care much.

They stayed on the floor for a long time. After Leo collected himself, he released his embrace and just looked at him with a sly grin. "Now, what do you say, Mikey?"

Mikey blinked stupidly at his own brother and wondered what his brother meant, but then he got it and pretended to look guilty.

"I'm sorry I ruined our honeymoon."

Leo laughed, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

He didn't remember when sleep claimed him. He still held Leo's hand while his big brother was asleep to keep his paranoid level down to normal. And he wanted something to hold on as well. It was like Leo pulled every tricks and excuse just to stay awake with him until Mikey told him ' _Dude, you can't stay awake for the rest of your life_.' After Mikey forced him to lie down, Leo passed out quickly. Mikey watched his own brother with content before he too closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Mikey yawned, touch his own head sleepily as if to ensure that there was no mushroom. _Ha! See? I'm immune!_ He thought happily and sat up with enthusiasm. He looked outside and found that it was morning. Time to cook something to lift their moods.

Leo snored lightly, oblivious to the entire world. But he was jolted awake when he felt his hand being removed.

"Sorry," Mikey winced. He really wanted his brother to continue sleeping but he kinda needs his hands to make breakfast.

"It's okay." Leo rubbed his eyes and got up slowly.

"How are you, bro?"

"Much better."

Mikey opened the door that had been closed since their arrival. The shift of cold fresh air made he feel alive. He gathered cans from the backpack and quickly made a fire outside.

"What do you want for breakfast? I'm in a happy mode so I will cook anything you want."

Leo sounded skeptical. "With what? We don't have ingredients."

"Our ingredients are from _nature,_ bro. There's a bush outside that I can-"

"Umm, just canned blueberry will do. I'm not hungry."

Mikey grinned.

"Dude, you gotta eat more than that. I swear I won't put earthworms in your soup."

Suddenly Leo stood like a frozen statue, staring at him without blinking.

"Leo?"

It took a few moment before Leo shook his head lightly. "Nothing. It's just… suddenly it becomes normal again like it _never_ happens."

Mikey was quiet at that thought, then he smiled. "Yeah… it's weird. But it's a _good_ weird so I'm okay with it."

Leo nodded, then he looked back at his own backpack. The portal device on the floor. His eyes widened as he realized what he had to do.

"Hey Mikey, I'll look around for a bit. We need more water."

"What? Now?"

Mikey sounded disappointed. He wanted to spend more time with his big brother since he just recovered from zombie disease (he still couldn't believe it, though). But Leo grabbed the empty bottle and waved at him.

"I won't go for long. I'll be back by the time you finish cooking."

Reluctantly, Mikey nodded. "Okay. Stay out of trouble!"

Leo rolled his eyes playfully and turned back.

Now his eyes turned white with determination.

When he was out of sight, he sprang at the full speed, heading to the fallen factory.

* * *

Leo still believed he was in the dream.

He was glad that he got a second chance to bring his little brother home. But he knew his own desperation. After what they had been through, he didn't easily convince that this cruel world actually did something _good_ for once. Or this entire world could have been his own imagination that Mikey was alive, that he had lost it. So he needed more proofs for himself.

Back to the burned down the factory. Blenders were destroyed. Crystals were gone. The Kraang made sure to destroy everything along with their experiments.

He saw burned bodies along the way as he approached the very same building that they ran out. His breath caught when he saw what he was looking for. A body with a punctured wound on its head, along with a missing jaw.

"This is real." He breathed. So it wasn't his imagination. He wasn't dreaming. It actually happened, and Mikey was _really_ recovered from zombie disease.

 _I can't believe it,_ Leo thought. _This is real. Mikey is the only one that didn't turn, while hundreds of people here changed into monsters._

Surely, Mikey was bitten by one of the experiments here. The Kraang must have done something to them, but it failed to occur to Mikey.

As he walked back to the entrance gate, he turned his head slightly. "What were you trying to achieve here?" He wondered out loud, eyes gazing on the company sign.

Someone sprayed some sort of butterfly sign on it. He quirked his eye ridge.

"Fireflies, huh?"

Time to go to Colorado for real.

* * *

Mikey kept fiddling, waiting impatiently for his brother.

When Leo was back with full water bottle, he grinned widely almost split his face in half. But when Leo turned his shell a bit, he saw something that made him scream.

"Leo! MUSHROOM IS ON YOUR BACK!"

Leo's eyes popped out. "Huh? WHAT!? Are you serious!?"

"OF COURSE! LET ME TAKE IT OFF! Oh wait, it's just a mold." Mikey narrowed his eyes to get a closer look. A tiny bit of greenish mold spot grew on Leo's shell. He used his nail to scratch it. "This is gross! When did you get it? Ooooh I think I know. You were sitting way too long! Did you ever move, dude?"

Leo looked embarrassed. He definitely sat still too long in the humid room with the closed door. "Umm, I don't know. Can't remember."

 _Been waiting for you to turn. So you don't have to suffer alone._

Leo looked down at the ground so he didn't have to look at his little brother. He couldn't let him know what he thought in past three days. Mikey didn't notice and went on with his blabbing. "We have to drip in the next river no matter how cold it is. I can't believe I have to say this but you _seriously_ need a bath."

Leo smiled tiredly. "Sure, whatever you say, Mikey."

* * *

After finishing their breakfast (Mikey cooked a normal meal for _once_ , which was great), they prepared to leave this old motel. Mikey paid extra attention to the comic books he put in the backpack before he decided to put all of them out. Leo looked downcast. He didn't want Mikey to think it was because of the weight of backpack that made he get bitten.

But he didn't say anything. Sometimes being the leader and big brother couldn't fix everything that happened to the family member. Every action has consequences. The bite scar on Mikey's arm became a lifetime reminder of what could have happened.

He tried to help him in his own way, though. Mikey was surprised when Leo gave him his cloak, saying it was warm, which Mikey gladly accepted it. He didn't know that Leo gave it to him to cover his own scar from the sight.

 _If you don't see it, it'll hurt less._

The only thing he could do from now on was to prevent it from happening again. He wouldn't allow anything to happen to his little brother.

"Never again," Leo whispered to himself as he strapped his backpack on his shell, his katana ringing softly as he drew it back to the scabbard.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Fixed error because I was sleepy.

I lost half of this chapter because of stupid cloud storage. I'm sorry if the update is slow, but I'm naturally slow writer and then google doc killed half of it /sobs. I don't know, maybe google doc wanted Leo to die for real and threw tantrum when he didn't... YOU CRUEL BASTARD.

Back on the road! Fall season is on the half way. Dun dun dun! I think if you've played the game you would say "HA! I KNEW IT!". Yes, this particular event is adapted from Last of Us: Left Behind, and a little bit from a song A Great Big World - Say Something (I'm Giving Up On You) . For normal reader, I'm sorry. Please don't cry! You'll see all the truth soon, I guess. Fall may be shorter than Summer because now I'm writing a long chapter. Winter is coming, and it'll be more brutal. I'm also considering about changing to M-rating… but I really don't want to. We'll see if I can downtone it...

Off topic, you may have heard about the end of season 4 in Korean version. Actually, I heard a lot of people lost interests in the 2012 series because of inconsistent scripts, which I totally agree. But the last two episodes aren't bad. It's awesome actually. The fight scene is GREAT it should've been like this since the beginning! After watching them I think s5 will be something like 'Fast Forward' and the scripts might be sadly inconsistent as the same. Anyway, I hope TMNT fanfic writers come back because I want to read their stories T_T. Please come back…

And, you know, it'll be interesting to see a lot of Leorai from Japanese fans after s4 ends lol. I'll tell you they make the best fanart of this pairing.


	17. Fall: Chapter 17

**Author's note: ** I actually like this chapter and have immensely fun writing it. The Fireflies symbol can be seen in the Last of Us 2 trailer. University of Eastern Colorado doesn't exist in reality. No, I didn't make it up, Naughty Dog did it first.

* * *

"Leo, look!"

His older brother craned his neck to look at the green traffic sign above their heads. The poor green sign was barely hung on large metal pole. The white letters and the arrow sign shone brightly under the sun even if it started to fade. It wrote 'Denver', the capital city of Colorado.

His heart raced, his lips curled into a smile. Finally, _finally_ , they reached the destination. Even if it was just another city but he had hoped they could go back home. It had been a rough journey and he thought they spent too much time being here. It was like, what, two months? Three months? Honestly, he had lost a track of time since they left the radio tower. With the discovery of Kraang's secret lab and Mikey's immunity, he _totally_ had been too busy to notice how much time flew by.

But when Leo lifted his hood and narrowed his eyes to get a better look, he saw a familiar white spray paint near a 'D'.

"Woo! Colorado, here we come!" Mikey waved his hands with excitement, the gray cloak that was once Leo's flapped around his shell, then he pointed at the insect symbol on the sign. "Is that a dragonfly?"

Leo, who saw this symbol at the factory before, slowly shook his head. He was about to open his mouth to answer when Mikey grabbed the sides of his own head with both hands, gasping audibly.

That was where his dear old friend named anxiety kicked in.

"What is it? Are you okay? Did you get hurt somewhere?" His eyes widened and quickly moved to stand near Mikey who was still staring at the symbol.

"Yes, no, I just feel it. Oh god…"

Leo began to panic. What if the zombie disease was slowly eating him from the inside and just starting the effect now? He couldn't let it happen. They were so close to Colorado, so close to home. He didn't want to lose him now. After Mikey was bitten, he wished he had another pair of eyes just to keep him in his sight all the time. He was sure Mikey noticed his overprotective habit but being the little brother he was probably used to be taken care of. Leo needed his brothers, in one way or another. He couldn't do this alone, not again. He could practically hear Raph's harsh tone cursing at him, telling him to do something to help their little brother.

"Mikey…" Leo touched his little brother's shoulder, unsure what to do. The leader like him couldn't fight a disease, an invincible enemy...

"I feel…." After a tortured minute or more of silence, Mikey snapped his bright blue eyes open, mouth hung down a little, then he almost made Leo jump by turning to look at him abruptly and babbling whatever made sense to him and only him. "... _genius_ , man. Not D-genius level but Mikey genius. No, no, it's better than that. It's the geniusness of different dimension. I'm a genius again!"

"Umm…" That was all he could manage.

"That," Mikey turned to the sign with a grin. "is not a dragonfly. Not an oversized butterfly. It's a firefly! A giant firefly on the road sign. So that means we're close to their base!"

Trying to process the new level of geniusness(?), Leo blinked, then he bowed slightly and sighed with a relief. At least Mikey wasn't going to turn. Still a goofball, but a _fine_ goofball. "Yeah, I think so."

"Let's hurry! Come on come on come on I can't wait to see our long lost enemy!"

Leo chuckled before continue walking on the deserted road, leaving the sign behind.

Suddenly Mikey's voice broke the silence. "You know, I thought it's a butterfly for a second."

"Hmm?" Leo tilted his head, curious. "It does look like a butterfly a bit, but the wings are too small."

"Hmm, yeah."

Mikey looked back at the sign. A butterfly. He remembered something about butterfly when they were a little. Yes, the first butterfly in the sewers.

* * *

 _Four brothers rarely fought._

 _Correction. Four of them barely fought against each other at the same time. It was like taking turn, like Raph and him sometimes fighting over new toys or he annoyed Raph enough to get him riled up and chased after him around the lair. Leo and Raph, on the other hand, usually fought until one of them bleed. Donnie once said it was unhealthy. A quarrel was bad, even Master Splinter said so. When Raph was chasing him, Mikey tried his best not to get caught so he won't get hurt like Leo. Really, who was in the right mind to be in front of Raph's punch, that was suicide!_

 _Anyway, four of them rarely fought at the same time. Usually, it was Raph-Mikey, Raph-Leo, and sometimes Leo-Mikey. Well, he had to admit he was good at pissing anyone off. With Raph, it felt like playing around, running and threatening. With Leo, it was like facing a rainstorm with a broken umbrella. It was scary, yes, so he didn't annoy big brother much. With Donnie? Nah, Donnie never angry at him. Maybe he could scold him for messing with his equipment but that was it. Donnie never hit him, which was great. He liked Donnie the best and hung out with him most of the time. When two brothers were in the conflict, the rest would step aside and let they vented out until they calm down. They didn't take side because that would be unfair. They didn't gang up on one brother._

 _But it was inevitable since they were living together since birth. He remembered when they were ten. Leo started it with Donnie. An unusual pair because both of them rarely fight. They shared calm, quiet manners, and, if he might add, a little bit of sci-fi nerd. But a small talk after they ran in the sewers led into a big argument. Raph and he looked at each other and decided to go to the lab to see what was going on._

 _In Leo's hands was a small silver cage. The cage was Donnie's, everybody knew it, but Leo held it away from Donnie who glared heatedly at their big brother._

 _"Give it back! You can't do this!"_

 _Mikey never heard Donnie's voice full of anger like this before. It startled him._

 _"_ Yes _I can! I won't let you kill it!"_

 _"What the heck is going on?" Raph crossed his arms. Donnie turned to him for a minute, sighing._

 _"I found a flying insect I've never seen before in the sewer so I brought it back to the lab to find out what is it. But Leo doesn't let me."_

 _"Insect?" Raph quirked his eye ridge. He began to think it was a bad idea to get involved, but he couldn't go back now since Mikey was pushing on his shell._

 _Leo countered. "Because you're going to kill it. It's wrong and you know it."_

 _"But I'm not going to kill it just for fun. It's about science experiments."_

 _"It's still wrong to take a life. Master Splinter taught us, remember?"_

 _Tears built up in his eyes threatening to break loose. His fist clenched like his anger was bottling up. With trembling lips, Donnie raised his voice again. "For god's sake, it's just a bug! We have a million bugs in the sewer. Using one of them for experiment won't hurt its entire species! Raph kills cockroaches all the time. Why don't you get on his shell too?"_

 _Mikey flinched at Donnie's tone. This was wrong, seeing his favorite brother shouted at Leo like this. He took a peek behind Raph's shell. Leo didn't yell back as he tried to reason with Donnie again._

 _"Two wrongs don't make a right, Donnie. I thought you know better than that."_

 _Suddenly Raph moved to stand between them. Mikey kinda followed him since he wanted to make himself as small as possible behind Raph's back. The red banded turtle frown at Leo, wanting this nonsense to end soon. "Loosen a bit, will ya? Donnie's right. It's just a bug."_

 _Leo didn't back down. He sounded hurt that Raph didn't take his side. "So you encourage him to kill, just like you?"_

 _"Hey! It's just a ground-crawling bug. What_ the shell is _your problem? What's so great about this bug in that cage?"_

 _"It has wings! See? It's special. Not like any bug you've killed. And it's wrong to purposely kill something we don't even know." Leo shoved the cage into Raph's face, making him scoot back a bit because, well, it was a bug. And with wings or not, Raph hated them. Mikey took a close look at it. Yes, it had wings, beautiful wings if he might add. There were orange, red, and black colors on their thin paper-like wings. Nothing was like cockroach's wings. Those were nasty. This bug looked harmless, though. He began to see how special it was._

 _This beautiful creature shouldn't be in the sewers._

 _"But I told you I didn't kill for fun. I want to study it. Why don't you understand!?" Donnie practically screamed with frustration. Before Leo could reply back, the lab door open wide and Splinter came in._

 _"What is going on in here?"_

 _Raph glared at his older brother. "Master Splinter, it's Leo. He's being_ idiot _."_

 _"Hey!" the blue banded ninja glared back, holding the small cage protectively. He lifted his head and showed their father the cage. "Donnie caught the flying bug and tried to kill it. I stop him because killing is wrong."_

 _"_ Well _you're the one who's wrong. You're being unreasonable! I hate you!"_

 _Everybody flinched at the harsh words, even Raph. Because their pacifist brother just shouted and stomped off the lab. Mikey caught a glimpse of tears falling from the edge of his eyes. He wanted to follow him, but he stood rooted to the spot with a shock. Why did they fight anyway?_

 _This time Leo looked deeply hurt, disappointed. "Donnie!"_

 _He called after the scientist, but Donnie simply answered by slamming his bedroom's door. Master Splinter looked at the bedroom and then Leo, observing both of them quietly. "Leonardo, please come with me."_

 _"Ooh you're in trouble," Raph mumbled smugly and earned a dirty look from Leo._

 _Mikey didn't understand all of it. Raph killed bugs all the time because he hated them. He made it clear that he really hated them. But Donnie hated bugs too? He just yelled that he hated Leo, not bugs. But it was terrible anyway because he hated Leo. Why did they have to fight?_

 _He watched Leo followed Master Splinter to the dojo, head down. It was like he was desperate anyone to agree with him, sadly there was none._

* * *

"Do you hear what I hear?" Mikey asked him out of the blue, cupping his ear slit with his hand. Leo was about to shake his head when his ears caught a sound of engine rumbling.

"Is that…?" Leo widened his eyes and quickly turned back to see some sort of vehicle on the road. At that speed, the car would reach them soon. He grabbed Mikey's cloak and pulled him behind the trees. Mikey protested loudly.

"Can't we get a hitchhiking?"

"No!"

"Aww..."

They waited until the truck was in their sight. Leo covered both of them with his new black cloak he found a few days ago. Since he gave the old one to Mikey, he sewed the rags together to make a new cloak for them to conceal his appearance from the humans. Leo observed the running truck with sharp eyes. There were a man driving the truck with one woman and small girl on the seats. As it moved passed them, Leo assumed they were a family as the hunters never took a child with them.

"You should've let me, bro. They have a lot of space for us. And they're heading to Colorado too" Mikey complained but Leo ignored him like always.

"I thought they're hunters because we haven't seen a running car in ages. It's better to hide than exposing ourselves."

"Yeah, yeah. I think we can still catch up with them when we reach the city." Mikey got to his feet and began to jog on the road. "Go ninja go ninja go! Let's go!"

But when they got the first view of the city, they didn't expect to see what was left of Colorado.

* * *

 _"Sit down, my son."_

 _Leo expected a long list of questions of why he bullied Donnie. He still believed that he didn't do anything wrong, though. Donnie was too obsessed with experiments that he may forget what was the right thing to do. Leo had to explain his reasons to him again. His gaze fixed in the cage in his lap. The butterfly flapped its wings weakly. Leo remembered Donnie helped it from the spider's web. Everything was fine until Donnie said he wanted to study it by dissecting its wings._

 _That was unacceptable._

 _"Please tell me what happened between you and Donatello. As I recall, both of you have never been in the fight before." Splinter asked him, full of patience as always._

 _"Sensei… May I ask you something?" He gripped on the cage, the small butterfly flapped a few times and remained on the bottom of the cage. "_ Other _day you told me killing the innocent is wrong..."_

 _"I did. A mindless killer is dangerous. However, I do not think Donatello has achieved that dangerous mind. There must be a reason of why he wants to kill it."_

 _"He told me he wanted to study it."_

 _"Ah, I see." His father nodded in understanding. "Donatello has a great mind. He always interests in science. I believe that was the reason that you disagree with."_

 _Leo fell into silent. He was hoping Donnie would understand him, but he was wrong. Splinter poured the tea for both of them before holding the teacup, enjoying the smell. He looked too calm for someone who was about to lecture their own child._

 _"I was hoping this can be a topic for another day, but perhaps it is better for you to understand it. I have seen you mature through years and this is the time to take you to another level."_

 _Leo just kept staring at him, perplexed. Splinter looked at him in the eyes and spoke._

 _"You cannot see the world in black and white. The ability to take a life is indeed_ dangerous _skill, but you have a choice to use it. Kill for your own selfish goal or for protecting the one you love. Sometimes you have to kill someone in order to survive. It is bound to happen with the life we currently have."_

 _"But… I don't want to..." Leo squeezed his eyes shut. "Am I a coward?"_

 _"Leonardo," Splinter's voice soothed him. "You have a kind spirit which I always admire. It does not mean you are coward. Someday it will become your strongest weapon."_

 _Although with his gentle voice, the next words hit Leo like a train._

 _"But one could not stay ignorance. Even if you do not want to kill, someday your enemies might slay your brothers and you would fail to prevent them."_

 _Leo cringed. The word 'fail' had more impact to his heart than he imagined._

 _"Then… what I think is wrong? Should I let Donnie kill it?" Leo shook his head. "But it didn't do anything to us!"_

 _"I cannot answer that for you. For you must know why you have to kill, you must know why you cannot do so. Every life on earth have equal value, but the meaning of their life is different. For me, I can only share my thought about what I think of you."_

 _Master Splinter placed the teacup back on the small table and reached out to touch his shoulder. "Nothing is more important than you, Leonardo. I value your life above mine."_

 _"Sensei…"_

 _"I am not hesitated to kill the threats when your life depends on it. All of you. I admit I am willing to kill to protect you. If that butterfly harms any of you, I will finish it immediately without regrets. Its life has no meaning compared to yours." As Splinter leaned back, he asked Leo. "Do you think what I'm going to do is wrong?_

 _His body shook slightly, he kept staring at the floormat. "...I don't know."_

 _"When the time has come, aim to kill, my son." Splinter's voice was undemanding, yet strong and firm. "It is the reason why I teach you ninjutsu. I do not want you to become a killer, but I want you to be able to protect yourself from enemies. We take no pleasure in killing. That is different."_

 _Letting the words sink in, Leo slowly nodded. He tried to understand his father, yet it was difficult. His heart clenched as he thought about slicing someone with the katana. It felt wrong, nonetheless._

 _"Take your time to consider it. You do not have to choose what to believe right now. I only wish to give you an advice. The choice is yours, Leonardo." Splinter began to get up. Leo hastily followed him. "Now, I think it is the time to go to your brothers._ "

* * *

"Holy chalupa!"

There were smokes everywhere. The sound of gunshots could be heard somewhere behind the buildings. The entire city was on fire.

Mikey clung on his arm and looked at the debris around them. "Umm, I thought Fireflies and Kraang won over the military? It looks like the city's at war."

Leo pressed his lips. "Maybe two tigers cannot live on one mountain."

"Huh?"

Leo sighed, eyes closed. "It's an idiom. I don't think Kraang's generous enough to share the city with Fireflies."

Another bomb set off somewhere on the right side made both of them flinched. Staying on the road seemed not safe anymore, so Leo dragged his little brother to the nearest building and motioned him to use the grappling hook to get on the rooftop. Up there, they could see the smokes from the center of the city.

"How can we find the Kraang in this mess? The family in the truck too! Oh no, do you think they know about this?" Mikey widened his eyes when he realized they hadn't seen the truck anywhere. Leo looked worried, too.

"I don't know..."

The scream of the woman broke the spell. Someone was shooting in the next building, following by the cry from a human girl. Leo met Mikey's eyes before nodding. They jumped from the rooftop to see what happened down there.

Mikey spluttered when he saw the same old truck in the alley. "That-that-"

There were six hunters, two of them dragging the man out of the truck, the other aiming the gun at the girl. In front of the man lied the woman's body, already dead.

The twin katana suddenly rang, Leo was ready to leap out of the rooftop, but Mikey was faster. He grabbed his big brother's waist tightly, making him fall backward.

The two shots echoed through the alley as the cry of the girl cut off. Leo gasped. They didn't need to see what happened down there. They couldn't save them. Trying to get up, Leo rolled off and frowned at Mikey who was still lying.

"Mikey! What are you doing? Why did you stop me?!"

"I-I-"

Feeling out of breath, he was overwhelmed by the feelings of guilty and scared after he realized that he just let them die.

 _What happened to me? What have I done? I just… I don't want them to kill you too._

Alarmed by his own thoughts, Mikey could only curl into a ball, body shaking with wide eyes. A moment ago he was worried about the unknown family but now he didn't care about them anymore. Why he became heartless? Suddenly he was traumatized by the near-death experience from the past month that he was bitten and was about to turn into the infected. He almost died, leaving his own brother behind. He was afraid he would lose himself, and Leo. Mikey didn't want his big brother to leave his side and his body acted before he could think.

"I'm-" _sorry?_ But he felt relieved that Leo wasn't down there. _I just let them die. I just let them die. I just-_

"Mikey," Leo's voice was full of patience. Maybe he could read Mikey's mind? Mikey gulped, shutting his eyes. Leo coaxed him to sit up, and next moment he was in his embrace. "Mikey, Look at me. It's okay, I'm here."

Leo guided his head to his shoulder with a gentle touch. He burst into tears, wrapping his arms around his big brother. "I'm sorry… I don't know what happen to me. I just-just-"

 _Hate this dimension. So much..._

"Shh... Don't worry. We'll find the Kraang."

* * *

 _"I'm impressed. You started the biggest family drama without me."_

 _Raph was waiting for him in front of their bedrooms, grinning. Leo growled at him._

 _"Unlike you, I'm not looking for a fight everytime I open my mouth. I only did what I think is right."_

 _"Like making Donnie cries?"_

 _Leo turned away guiltily. He couldn't deny the fact that he was the one who started the fight. Raph stabbed in his plaston with thick finger._

 _"What the shell is wrong with you? You say I'm a bully but look at you, keep it up and you'll be the expert at this."_

 _Leo narrowed his eyes. The same anger was boiling up again. "So you're taking his side?"_

 _Raph threw his hands in the air. "I take nobody's side, Fearless. You want a piece of my thought? Fine. I'll kill that bug, but not because I want to experiment on it, I just hate bug. Period." To emphasize his point, Raph pointed at the silver cage in his hands, accusing him with fierce eyes. "Get down from your high horse. Don't force us to think like you all the time. We have our own reasons to do things. You just have to put faith on us."_

 _Leo was unable to reply for a few moments. He swallowed hard, thinking about what Master Splinter told him._

 _"Raph…. I…" He hesitated. Raph was still glaring at him. "If it's a dangerous bug, what would you do?"_

 _"Easy. Wipe its existence off."_

 _"But if it's not. What if you just misunderstand? Would you kill an innocent life?"_

 _Leo sounded almost pleading. Raph rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. This was one of those days that he didn't get Leo's logic._

 _"I don't know what you're trying to say. It's just a single weird bug with fancy wings. But if I have to choose between it and Don, I'd choose Don over anything. And I mean it."_

 _Leo's shoulders sagged like he finally yielded. Raph sighed, he wanted this drama to end already so he nudged Leo._

 _"You done moping? There's another turtle waiting for your apology."_

 _"So it means… I was wrong… to save a life?"_

 _"Goddamnit. Is that even more important than saving your own brother's ass?"_

 _"Raph…"_

 _"Get your shit together," Raph smirked and punched his shoulder. "If you make Don cries again, I'm so going to punch you to next Tuesday."_

* * *

Mikey was quiet for a few hours.

They scouted the city as fast as possible as Leo wanted to survey the buildings before the sunset. He always took caution when he entered the new area. No mistake was allowed. Leo glanced back at his younger brother. If anything happened again he was afraid that Mikey would break.

Mikey was just happy to reach Denver, but he became distressed after the tragedy of the human family. He hadn't seen the depressed side of him much on Earth. This was what he feared before. This alternate dimension started to create effects on them. He had to find the way back home as fast as possible.

"Leo..."

Leo quickly skidded to a halt. "Yes?"

"I, uh, not sure what to say but uh, called it gut reaction, but..." Mikey looked nervous so Leo waited for him to finish. "I think the Kraang's in there."

 _'There'_ was the two-story building in front of them. The air was so thick that he could notice yellow fog coming out from the broken window. Even if it looked risky, he trusted Mikey's instinct more than his. Leo looked at the building thoughtfully before he nodded. "Okay, get your filtration unit. We're going in."

He felt Mikey grabbed his wrist at lightening speed.

"Are we going in? Really?"

Both of them knew last time didn't go well. Mikey looked at him with a pleading in his eyes. Leo mustered his confidence and forced a smile.

"We'll be fine. We'll be careful."

Reluctantly, Mikey nodded and got the breathing unit out, snapping his pupils into cold white eyes. If it was another situation, Leo would've teased him about becoming uncharacteristically focus. Leo chased that thought out of his head, he needed to focus too.

His hand reached to the door mid-air when he heard the commotion inside. Someone was running. The sound of heavy metal cases crashing the floor made them flinch.

 _"Do not escape! GAH!"_ The familiar voice was muffled behind the iron door. _"This is not possible! The one that is known as the subject is escaped from Kraang."_

"Umm, do you hear what I hear?"

"Yes, Mikey. Our friend is up there." Leo turned to look at Mikey for a brief moment then pulled the door opened and ran after the source of the voice. "That way!"

Looking around quickly, he found no clickers here. The passage was clear so they ran to the second floor. Someone was trapped under the metal bookcases, unable to move. That body tried to get up but his legs were under the bookcases. A few shards of glass mark lied beside him. Leo heard that man wheezed loudly as if he was suffocated.

He waited a few minutes to make sure this Kraang was alone before making his presence known by stepping out of the shadows. This was the first living Kraang they ever met, actually, he might not live for long judging by the fact that he was breathing the spores. The Kraang's human droid was firmly trapped under the cases, the glass that covered his stomach was shattered, allowing them to see the pink brain-like alien inside. The strange blood oozed from his small pink body. The Kraang gasped at them.

"It is a wonder that the Kraang is found by the turtles in this dimension."

"What…?" Leo was genuinely surprised to see the Kraang hurt. "What happened to you?"

Mikey poked his head behind Leo's shell. "Umm, should we call it brain damage or bleeding torso?"

"The concern of the unfortunate state of Kraang is unnecessary. Kraang is more curious as to why the ones called the turtles are here. It is forbidden for the ones who called themselves the turtles to be here."

"Aww. How I miss the sound of the one who called themselves a pinky brainy."

"Mikey stops." Leo chided, wanting to get information first. "We heard the noise. Did you fight with someone before we come?"

"Kraang does not have to answer the one called the turtles as it is unnecessary. Kraang will be soon ceased to exist after a few hours."

"What!?" Mikey squeaked.

Leo frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"The spores in the air has been inhaled by Kraang since the mask is broken. Kraang will be turned into Runner soon, while the subject… who is escaped from Kraang is already protected from the infection and will be gone safely from this place. Kraang is not amused."

"What subject?"

"Kraang will remind the one called the turtles again that it is not a duty of the Kraang to answer."

Mikey rubbed his head. Staying in the yellow fog and hearing the Kraang's speech didn't make his condition better. "I don't know what causes a headache, the way you're speaking or these yellow spores."

"Tell us how to go back to Earth," Leo said with the authoritative voice, but the Kraang just laughed.

"Kraang sees that there are only two turtles here. Does it mean the one called the turtles are separated in this dimension?"

Leo narrowed his eyes, trying not to take a bait. "None of your business. Tell us how to get home."

He tossed the broken portal device he got from the factory on the floor in front of Kraang's droid. The Kraang bent his head a bit but suddenly he coughed.

Mikey began to concern about their enemy. Because, well, he could be a ticket home. "Hey, pinky, are you okay?"

"The anatomy of Kraang is different from the humans. It is likely that Kraang will be turned faster than infected human." When the coughs subsided, the Kraang stared at them. "That portal… will not work in this dimension."

"Then tell us what we want to know and I'll let you go."

Kraang laughed again.

"There is… no hope… for Kraang. Kraang will be turned soon."

"Is there anything we can help?"

"Mikey!"

"Sorry! I-I just..."

 _I just don't want to see anyone suffers like me…_ Mikey swallowed hard. The Kraang stared at him quietly as if to study him. Finally, he spoke again.

"Kraang will tell what turtles want to know If… If turtles will do as Kraang requests."

Leo turned to face him again and contemplated the Kraang's condition. He was no longer a threat. So Leo nodded. "Deal."

Kraang shifted a bit to get comfortable on the floor before he began. "The normal portal device is not working in this strange dimension. The special materials are needed to create the portal back to Earth… mutagen, one powercell, and the Kraang mixer are needed to combine together to create the liquid portal."

"I knew it!" Mikey yelled, earning a glare from Leo. "...sorry."

"Kraang was contacted by the Kraang several months ago that the liquid portal would be opened and the subject was meant to go to Earth with Kraang as the prisoner. But the contact to Kraang was lost. Something was wrong. The liquid portal didn't open for Kraang but for turtles to fall into this dimension."

"Well, uhh, it's kinda our fault." Mikey scratched his temple sheepishly.

Kraang huffed but didn't say anything about that matter. "Since the time flow in this dimension is faster than the time flow on Earth, Kraang needed to wait for next six months for the portal. Kraang was waiting for the portal to open again, but the subject grew stronger and with the help from Fireflies, the subject was released."

Leo was curious. "What is the subject you said earlier?"

"Kraang has been assigned to escort the subject back to Earth. The information of the subject is classified."

"Okay... So what happened to the city? We heard that Fireflies and you drove the army away, but it looks like the hunters are all over this city."

"Kraang is betrayed by Fireflies." The Kraang clenched his fist with anger. "Fireflies helped the Kraang to collect the subjects and did the experiments for us. But when our goal is learned by Fireflies, they decided that we have different objectives so they destroyed our labs and infected the Kraangs with the original fungus."

The Kraang sighed defeatedly, lowering his android head. "Kraang was on the mission to escort the subject to Earth so the subject was brought here, but Kraang failed to capture him. Kraang was lured by the subject into the yellow fog. The mark was destroyed, and Kraang is trapped under the cases. There is no escape."

Mikey whimpered behind his shell while Leo stayed unfazed. "We know Fireflies want to find a cure and we saw your old lab. So what are you trying to do here?"

Kraang was quiet for a moment. "Kraang would like to say in human's term that _'it's a long story'_ and Kraang does not think the remained time is sufficient. Kraang will say the ones called turtles who seek for the answer should go to the University of Eastern Colorado to find the truth by themselves. It is one of Kraang's secret labs and may be safe from Fireflies."

Leo frowned. The back of his mind said it could be a trap, but it was the best shot they could get from the dying Kraang. "Okay, I think that's all." He sheathed the katana and got down on one knee. "We have a deal, Kraang. Tell me what you want. We can help you get out of this but I don't think your legs will work properly."

"Kraang do not wish to escape from here since it is the last moment of Kraang."

Leo quirked his eye ridge. "You give up easily?"

"Negative, turtles. The reality is accepted by Kraang since Kraang breathes the spores already. The Kraang will-will-"

The Kraang coughed and wheezed again. It seemed that he reached his limit.

"This is... the last request made by... Kraang," The synthesized voice began to fade as the last request slipped from his mouth. "Kraang wants to be killed... by the turtles."

* * *

" _Hey, umm. May I come in?"_

 _Leo waited anxiously in front of Donnie's room and not dared to touch the doorknob until he heard a muffled "yes"._

 _The scientist mostly stayed in the lab so his room was mostly empty, just a place to sleep. Donnie was sitting on the bed with tired eyes. He was no longer crying which was good. Leo walked in and closed the door, his hands kept fidgeting on the cage._

 _"So, umm, I'm sorry. I didn't want to make you angry."_

 _Somewhat embarrassed, Donnie stared at the floor. "It's okay. I take some time to think about it. Now I understand your point of view. I mean, it could be the last one in its species so I have to be careful about it. I should start with searching more information first-"_

 _"Donnie," Leo sighed._

 _"Right, umm, okay."_

 _"I believe in you." Leo cut in before Donnie had a chance to say anything. With_ heavy _heart, he set the cage on the table. The insect called butterfly (how butter can fly? He wondered) moved a little before staying still. "I'll leave it here to let you decide what to do next."_

 _"Umm, Leo?" Donnie called him before he could walk out. Leo turned to him and found that the purple banded turtle was extremely nervous. "I'm-I'm sorry too. I didn't mean it. All of it. And I kind of understand why you want to save it. It's innocent, just a small, harmless bug. But I'm not going to kill every bug in the sight. I don't like doing that either, harming a life, I mean."_

 _Leo thought about what Master Splinter said and the corner of his lips tugged up._

 _"I know. You have your reasons." Leo sighed again and turned away. "I just… need more time to think._ "

* * *

"What?"

They stared at their sworn enemy with a shock expression. Mikey even picked his ear slit to make sure he didn't mishear the last request.

"Is the one called the turtle deaf? The request has been made by Kraang. The promise made by turtles should be employed."

Leo stammered. "But… but..."

"Kraang does not have… time… left..." He coughed loudly. His lemon green eyes were dropping. "Kraang… does not… like this world… Kraang… does not like… those infected… and Kraang does not want to... become one of them..."

Mikey froze. Because the Kraang felt the same as him and just said it out loud. They kept staring at the Kraang, unable to do anything until the Kraang spoke quietly.

"Please…"

Leo squeezed his eyes shut.

 _You must know why you have to kill._

"Mikey, step back."

Leo already drew out the katana. Mikey was too shock to stop him. "What? Are you-?"

"Yes."

"But it's-"

"I have to, even though I don't _want_ to. Just get behind me."

It was Leo's order. _Leader's order._ Mikey slowly nodded and turned to give a sympathetic look to the Kraang one last time. The Kraang met his gaze and tilted his head slightly.

"The one called the turtles is appreciated by Kraang."

Mikey turned his head away, but he stayed this time. He wouldn't run away no matter how gruesome it was, he knew Leo suffered more than him. He saw what happened when Leo's concentration was off before and didn't want it to happen again. Leo admitted that he didn't like killing, let alone getting used to killing. So he wouldn't let Leo facing it alone.

Leo swung the blade with perfect precision, no hesitations. Mikey stayed beside him the whole time.

* * *

 _"Umm, hey."_

 _It was late evening that Mikey approached his older brother who had been sitting in front of blank TV screen for more than half an hour. The lair was so quiet that he could hear his own heartbeat. He hated this, he had to fix it somehow. Leo merely glanced at him. "Not you too, huh? Come to tell me I was wrong?"_

 _"I'm not here to side with them if that's what you think." Mikey tried to act casually as if the whole drama didn't make everyone avoiding Leo. Donnie was back in the lab, Raph was somewhere in the dojo, and he thought Master Splinter was out for evening walk. Raph told him Leo needed some space, but he didn't think so. This was the perfect timing to reach out to Leo. He made himself comfortable on the sofa next to Leo. "Geez, bro. I don't even know a half of this. I mean, I don't know what and why you argued with Donnie."_

 _Averting his eyes, Leo asked him. "Then why do you come to me?"_

 _"Because, uh, Raph's with Donnie. Even father seems to agree with them so I don't want to side with them. I can do a math, bro. Two turtles should be on both sides just to be fair."_

 _Leo snorted. "This is not about being fair. It's about what is right."_

 _Mikey shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you can count on me taking your side. Always."_

 _Leo was quiet for a moment before asking timidly. "Always?"_

 _That was when Mikey knew he did the right thing. Heh, Leo just said it was about what was right, so this was perfect. He grinned and held up his hand. "Turtle's honor, bro."_

 _Mikey just sat next to him, his feet kicking back and forth lightly, enjoying his company even if Leo was just hugging himself, shutting the rest of the world out. But he let Mikey stay, grinning like a fool and turned on the TV. There was nothing more than Leo could ask._


	18. Fall: Chapter 18

**Author's note:** Hi everyone. I have something to say. Today is my last update… WHAT NO I'm kidding. I'm not abandoning this fic. I don't have writer's block too. It's just… when other authors said their computer broke, I was like really? But things happened, and mine just broke T_T. I'm sorry I had a doubt in you before. I experienced it myself and it totally sucks since I have to buy a new one. I'm poor… Soooo I use my mobile to finish writing it. This chapter is quite important so I don't want to half-bake it. Sorry it took so long.

To those who played the game, winter is coming. Winter is _finally_ coming. Winter is really, _really_ coming and I mean it this time. I'm really excited for this chapter. It's difficult to pull it all out. Oh, did I say that winter is _literally_ coming?

To those who didn't play LOU, you won't miss anything. I'll make sure you don't miss anything and enjoy this story. Just remember, winter _is_ coming. Pun intended.

On the side note, I fixed the name of chapters. Because I live in the country that has only 2 seasons (3 if you count winter. But we have winter like 3 days, 2 weeks top so...), I made a mistake by putting summer before fall lol. Now fixed!

* * *

The man walked to the only source of light on the first floor. The night was cool, and he was in the mood for company.

"Hey, have a light?"

Another man glanced at him briefly before taking it out of his shirt pocket, carefully not to disturb a strap of a rifle on his chest, and giving it to him.

"Here,"

"Thanks. It's freaking cold, man. Guess snow will fall soon. What did you get from the tourists?"

The man lit the cigarette and returned the light. The second man shrugged.

"Not much. They got some medical items but no foods. The man had nice jacket, though." He sneered since his leader got that damn jacket, not him.

"Looks like the news is spreading to the east. They keep coming here and want to join the fucking Fireflies. So dumb. Good for us. More tourists to come."

They both chuckled at the misfortune of the said family like they lived so far away from where god could not punish them. Suddenly the fire in the bin was gone, removing all the light on this floor. They whipped their heads around. There was no wind and the night was quiet. It was suspicious if they were under attack. After all, the army retreated months ago and Fireflies decided to move their headquarter somewhere else since they had internal conflict, leaving the city to the hands of wild hunters. Since then, no one dared to mess with them.

But they didn't know what hit them next. The first man didn't prepare himself for a piece of hardwood that connected to the side of his head.

"-the fuck!?" The second man backed away when he heard the impact. They were under attack indeed, but from who? There was no gunshots, no shouts, just his own ragged breathes.

He caught a glimpse of a pair of white eyes. It was all cold white without pupils like the dead man's eyes. Did the reaper usually has glowing white eyes? He couldn't see anything else because it was dark, so he didn't see the nunchucks flying toward him.

The attacker didn't blink at all, staring at him with the cold eyes until the man fell to the ground.

"Good night," He whispered and stood for a moment before rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"You know, I wanna say something like that for a long time. Not that I don't have many chances to beat bad guys but usually we're in a hurry. Like we have to beat your guys fast and disappear before humans can see us. But don't think I'll go mercy on you. I'll hit you until you turn into jelly and never rise on your feet again. Yeah, I can do that. I'm that good."

"Mikey, he's already out cold." Another pair of white eyes silently emerged from the darkness in front of him, but Mikey didn't even flinch. He was used to Leo's immediate presence. Months of staying with Leo made that to him.

"Oh right." He lifted nunchucks up high and then...

 _Whack!_

"There. I feel better now."

The second hit probably caused an ugly concussion to the man. Maybe he deserved it. Leo looked at the human on the floor one last time and just shook his head before gestured Mikey back to the window. He followed closely and once again they disappeared into the curtain of the night like when they were the guardian of New York city.

The punishment was delivered, in any form possible.

* * *

Finally, they arrived at the top floor of the tall building, their temporary shelter. Leo glanced down at the dead city below. It was dark, no electricity, no lights, but from time to time he could hear a sound of gunshot somewhere in the dark city. He would never ever get used to it.

Leo removed his cloak, lit the small candle, and flipped the useless portal device in his hand. He thought about their encounter with the first Kraang today. Leo felt something wasn't right. Even in the vulnerable state, the Kraang held the important information from them. He didn't know their purpose yet, and why they wanted to send the mysterious subject to Earth? He _must_ know this. They saved Earth more than once and he felt he should continue this habit.

But now, the thought about Kraang was pushed aside, Mikey came first.

He was surprised that his little brother timidly asked him to find those hunters. Knowing they couldn't pull the stunt like they did in their New York, Leo promised he would do as much as possible. It wasn't the best time to save the city (It's called Denver?) from the hunters, they still had to find the special portal to go back home, and there were only two of them. But he couldn't bear seeing the guilt all over Mikey's feature. He wanted to say that it wasn't Mikey's fault that the human family was killed. He knew Mikey told him before that it wasn't his fault that Henry and Sam died. But he couldn't say it to him, because he couldn't bring himself to believe it wasn't his fault, so he wouldn't drag Mikey to the same path. If anything helped him to wash away the guilt, he would definitely do it.

Still looking down to the city below, Mikey absently scratched the bite scar on his arm. This kind of action didn't escape Leo's eyes. He was worried, but there was nothing he could do. Mikey obviously didn't want to talk about it. Surely a lot of things were going on inside his little brother's mind.

But luckily he was a ninja, and diversion was one of ninja specialties.

"How do you do that?" Leo turned to ask his little brother. Mikey turned to look at him and tilted his head.

"What? Do what? You gotta be specific, bro."

Leo smiled, running his thick fingers over his head. "I mean the Kraang. It's like you have Kraang detector in your head."

"Ah, _that,"_ Mikey said smugly. "In different dimension, Mikey rules."

Leo moved to sit next to him and shook his head lightly. "I'm serious. How did you do that?"

Mikey felt special because this wasn't something Leo could do and he was proud of himself. He spread his arms wide and closed his eyes. "You have to open your mind, dude. Then you'll hear all the voices around yourself. I happened to find someone sounds very _Kraang-y_ , that's all." Mikey opened his eyes, nudged his big brother, and started to grin. "Why don't you let me handle it? You gotta let me lead for once in your life."

Leo frowned at him. "This is not Dimension X, so no. I'm a leader here."

Mikey immediately pouted. "Oh Leo, you-"

Suddenly the gunshot from the ground below interrupted them. Leo whipped his head to that direction, only to notice that they were shooting far away from them. It was almost midnight judging by the position of the moon but they still didn't stop killing. He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. But when he turned to Mikey, it was like his little brother turned into a scared puppy. His imaginary puppy ears flattened against his head, tail looped under his shell, totally terrified.

Somehow Leo wanted to jump off and strangled that bastard who fired.

"Oh no," Mikey whispered as if he was afraid the shooter that was half a mile away from him would hear. "They're shooting again."

"Spreading a false news to lure people here, such a crooked strategy." Leo scorned. "They'd do anything just to survive one more day."

The sound of gunshot ended, but Mikey's wide eyes still fixed on the ground below. Leo patted his little brother's shoulder and rubbed his arm, giving a little comfort.

"We'll help as much as we can."

"I know..."

The only thing Leo could do was to pull Mikey closed to his chest, letting him seek for warmth. He mumbled quietly. "Just go to sleep. We have to reach the university tomorrow morning."

* * *

 _It was a story of the man who was braver than a lion and the man who resembled god..._

 _Hah! That's really cool introduction,_ he thought.

Mikey perked up from the old tale book he found. He wanted to think about his journey like that. A tale from the fantasy book. Donnie once said their lives couldn't join the normal society because they were too _special_. It wasn't far from the fact, actually. He didn't mind living in the sewers. He admitted that the human school was awesome but he wouldn't trade it for his brothers. He couldn't live without family.

 _It was a story of the man who was braver than a lion and the man who resembled god going to the university..._

 _Now that's silly even to my standard,_ Mikey shrugged and dropped the book.

They were in front of the entrance of the abandoned university, far from the sound of gunshot in the city. It was peaceful, a bit isolated, and sheltered with rusted buses. The Kraang built the junk wall to prevent the university from the noisy human. As they walked through the entrance, Mikey noticed that the university was much, _much_ larger than April's school. There were several tall glass buildings with strange shapes. The sign on the nearest building told him that it was Computer Science department.

He saw that and thought. _No wonder why the Kraang likes this place._

Leo was again naturally quiet, being alert but kept his calm exterior, even his footsteps were silent. Mikey knew they were in foreign area again but being quiet wasn't his style, so he started the conversation.

"You know, we're about the age to go to university like normal teenagers. This is so cool! We were in April's high school before and now we're going straight to university."

Normally, Leo would ignore him, but this time Mikey got a reply. "Yeah, to hunt some Kraang." Leo sighed as he knew that he was supposed to chastise his brother for being loud, but he couldn't help spoiling his little brother. They had been through a lot last night. "Actually, we're at the age that normal human separates from their parents. Becoming independent, I think."

"Oh..." Mikey looked astonished at that statement. "But I wanna stay with Splinter!"

Leo paused at the outburst and smiled. "Of course. Our lives are different from humans so don't worry, we'll stay with sensei."

He earned a sigh of relief from his little brother. A good sign. He wondered when will Mikey ever grow up…

It was eerily quiet on the campus. No human so far. Perhaps the Kraang did the best to prevent anyone from trespassing. But there were too many buildings. The university was large and it would take a day to cover all area. Leo glanced at the trees, looking for the threat or maybe a trap. But the Kraang they met was true on his word. This place was entirely abandoned.

"I wonder what the Kraang's trying to do. What's their subject? They want to bring the subject to Earth so it must be _very_ important. Or they want to spread the zombie virus on Earth?"

Mikey put his hands behind his head and shrugged. "Dunno, dude. But Kraang don't want empty world like this. They at least want slaves."

Leo nodded. "That's true. Either way, we need to know about their experiments."

Mikey tilted his head. "Isn't finding the way home difficult enough?"

"It is. But we can't let the virus infect Earth too. We have to make sure whatever they plan doesn't work."

Mikey wristlet at the beautiful sight when they entered the wide space in the middle of the campus. Fallen leaves covered every inch of the ground, the trees stood tall with dry and vacant branches. There was one thing that was out of place, though. Standing here, they could see the familiar bright purple color on the building on the left side.

"I don't need to use my Kraang radar to know _that_ building is the one we're looking for."

Leo gasped. "How can they paint it in purple? No wait, where _did_ they get the paint?"

"Who cares if they dumped mutagen on it. Let's go! Oh wait, I forgot. We have to go in _quietly_." Mikey was tiptoeing into the building.

"Good to know you've learned." Leo chuckled in a good nature, but that didn't stop Mikey from pouting.

The light came down from the broken dome roof, allowing them to see cloudy atmosphere outside. It was getting colder too. Mikey kept his arms under the cloak, seeking for little warm. He glanced to the roof and found that part of it collapsed long time ago, leaving a lot of broken concrete with some rebars sticking out in the middle of the first floor. Fortunately, there was no obstacle blocking on the curved stairs and they could reach to the top without problem. As soon as they entered the building, they finally found a clue about their enemy. A stack of papers was neatly placed on the decayed table near the entrance. It seemed out of place to see the perfect white papers in the middle of apocalypse.

"Wow, lots of papers here. Because it's university?" Mikey looked over the papers; they were _printed_ , not written. Definitely from the Kraang.

"Well, it's the place that teenagers come to study. But I don't think the Kraang was here for studying." Leo didn't hesitate to pick some of them and begin to read. He skimmed over papers. "It looks like these are the results of some experiments."

"Definitely D's favorite place." Mikey looked to find another clue. There was some strange machine but nothing looked like the Kraang blender. He even went under the table but found no mutagen or power cell.

Something squeaked loudly in the cage under the table.

Shuriken already slipped in Leo's fingers, ready to throw. Mikey paused but since he was close he could see the creature. Then he turned to Leo and shook his head, raising a question from his big brother. Mikey then reached out to open the cage, letting a shadow ran past him quickly to the only entrance. There were two or three small shadows ran after it. Before Leo could react, the natural light revealed what they were. Three small mammals stopped at the outside, looking at the turtles with curiosity.

"Monkey?" Leo gasped. "What are they doing here?"

"Hello! I'm Michelangelo!" Mikey waved his hand, but it scared them even more. They finally ran away. "Aww, don't be shy."

Leo blinked, then he got down to see the cage. The handwriting sign could be seen on it, 'Monkey', it said. There were many empty cages under and behind the table. All of them had an animal name, 'Bird', 'Dog', 'Rat', and the last one on the right had 'Turtle' written on it. Leo shuddered and moved to inspect it. The cage was too small for a mutant, which was good news because he couldn't bear a thought of the Kraang trying to experiment with his brothers. It seemed that they collected the wild animals, including normal turtles, as samples. Leo figured that the papers in front of him may hold some answers. It took a few moments to find what he was looking for.

"So they did the experiments on them."

"Huh?" Mikey who was still waving at the group of wild monkeys turned to him.

"The results are written here. Monkeys are infected."

"WHAT!?"

"...But apparently they become a host as they show no aggressive condition."

The more he knew about it, the more he felt sick about the Kraang. This was only one small side of what they were doing here and he started to feel that he didn't want to know the rest. His grip wriggled the paper with anger. This was very, _very_ wrong.

Mikey slapped his hand on his forehead as if he just remembered something very important like turning off the stove before going out.

"Leo… does it mean…"

"Hmm?"

"I'm a monkey?"

"...I fail to see how you can come up with that conclusion." Leo deadpanned.

"Just look at me! I got bitten by ugly giant mushroom but I don't turn into one of them. I'm a monkey now!" Mikey exclaimed loudly with a little overdramatic face. Leo chuckled and shook his head.

"For the record, you're still a turtle and if you put it that way then you are now the host."

Apparently, Mikey was super okay with it. Well, anything was great as long as he could walk on his own unlike those clickers. He smirked, arms crossed loosely. "Wow, I know I'm cool, but I don't know that I'll be super duper cool like this. Woo!"

Leo sighed. "I'll have Donnie check on you when we go back. We don't know if being the host has some effects on you."

"Don't worry, bro. I have a good feeling that we'll find our ticket in here. We'll get back home in no time!"

"That's good." Leo did a final check, picking some papers about the host and gesturing his little brother to follow. They still had more area to find the secret lab. As they walked up the stairs, Mikey suddenly asked him.

"So our honeymoon will end soon?"

Leo thought he should stop him from talking, but curiosity won over. "Honeymoon?"

Mikey laughed. "Aww, Leo. Don't be like that! It's our honeymoon, remember? It's a total _disaster_ , I know. But it's still our first honeymoon."

Leo contemplated for a moment before looking down at the paper in his hand, wondering out loud. "What do people do on honeymoon anyway?"

"I bet there're a lot of pizza."

"...you have no idea, do you?"

"People gotta eat at some point."

"..."

"What do people do on honeymoon?

"That's my question."

"I saw on the TV. They mostly stay in the room. But doing what? Watching TV together?"

"I guess." Leo shrugged nonchalantly, still in the reading mode.

Mikey hooked his hands behind his head, still in playful mode. "Tell me what you'd do if you go with Miwa."

Leo suddenly coughed, choking on his own saliva. "MIKEY!"

"Hey, I didn't ask for your love life because you said you don't have one. I just ask what would you do if you have a chance. It's _opinion_ , not fact, right? I'm still learning, bro. I know in TV they kiss, I know bits and pieces but not the entire chunk. Help me please?"

Leo glared at him before turning his head away and continued walking. "Not a time and place, Mikey."

Mikey just shrugged. Several months staying with Leo made him get used to this 'party pooper' side. He just wanted to tease him about his little crush but so far Leo hadn't said a single word about her. It was fun to see him fluttered every time Mikey brought it up, to say at least.

"-wait until we go to the beach first."

"Huh?" It took a few moment and a sly grin from his big brother before he realized the most important mission. Mikey widened his eyes and laughed. "Aww! I completely forget about our trip! I can't believe I forget about our secret trip! It's never too late to plan the trip, bro. Hmm… if we get back to Earth today I'll look it up and…"

Leo just shook his head and let Mikey babbling about awesome beach and how turtles got tanned. He shook his head lightly at his little brother's silliness.

Leo flipped paper to find more information. So far he knew that the Kraang got helps from Fireflies to capture the wild animal and did some sort of experiments on them. His questions remained: _what's the Kraang trying to do here? Why did they do the experiments on animals not human?_ _Did they try to spread the disease, or how to cure it?_ As far as he knew, Kraang could get infected. Maybe Fireflies and the Kraang worked together to find the cure, and the subject was probably one of the animals that were a successful experiment so the Kraang wanted to bring it to Earth.

 _Fireflies might not like that idea. If the Kraang takes the subject back, they wouldn't be able to find the cure so they released it. They betrayed the Kraang…_ Leo scratched his chin. _It's just my own assumption. I need more info to confirm it…_

His eyes caught the text on the next page, he read. ' _The host reaches the unstable state after being infected and died within 3-5 days...'_

Leo turned pale.

"Leo?"

He didn't even hear Mikey who was confused why he stopped walking. His feet were rooted to the floor, completely frozen.

"What did you find, bro?" Mikey raised his eye ridge and grabbed his shoulder. Leo visibly flinched, quickly put papers behind his shell.

"I-I-" Mikey looked at him suspiciously, and _oh god_ he couldn't lie to Mikey. This turtle knew every time he tried to hide his snacks in his bedroom. But he couldn't let him know this, not _this_. His own sanity depended on it.

"I… read it and don't really understand big words, that's all."

Mikey stared at him.

Leo kept his shaky hands behind his shell. He sweated even if it began to get cold. He tried not to blink too much. It was partial truth, he wanted more time to read and understand it. Finally, Mikey seemed to buy it. He patted his shoulder with sympathy.

"I know the feeling. That's what happen every time I talk to D. But I'm lucky that I'm genius."

Mikey grinned before taking another step to get ahead of him. Leo gulped. He waited until Mikey was distracted by the plant or small animals such as shiny bug on the handrail before reading the paper again.

' _-reaches the unstable state after being infected and died within 3-5 days. The first symptom is the skin on the limbs such as hands will start to die and become rotten, following the loss of hearing and sight-'_

He skimmed to the end of paper.

' _-However, the host does not show aggressive side as it slowly dies within a few days after the first symptom appears-'_

Leo turned the paper and kept reading. Mikey left him in peace, assuming he was concentrating on reading big words. Leo was trying so hard to find where they mentioned the cure, but the experiments ended with the fail results, all samples died.

 _That's why the cages are empty,_ he thought, _and those monkeys probably have a few days left._

Leo bit his lip. His brain was working over time.

 _No, no, no. Mikey got bitten last month, so he's fine. He's not the host. It's almost two months now. He's fine… It's not happening…_

"Umm, Leo?"

 _My heart can't take it anymore._

"Leo? We have some troubles, bro."

It took several minutes before he heard Mikey called him. "Huh?"

They reached the fourth floor finally. There were Kraang's machines along with the strange tube. He turned around to find mutagen or power cell but there was none. But when he followed Mikey's gaze he found the group of same monkeys they released downstair were trying to open the door that was blocked by chairs. The door rattled, risking the chairs to fall apart.

"No, no, no, no, nooo! Bad monkeys!" Mikey tried to scare them away but he failed. The monkeys didn't seem to hear or see him at all.

 _The loss of hearing and sight,_ Leo thought bitterly. _They probably just enter the second state._

Mikey didn't want to get close to them because the door was shaking every time the monkeys scratched on it. It was like something trying to break free.

"Leo… there's something in there." Mikey took a step back carefully, eyes wide. "A trap?"

Leo gritted his teeth and drew the katana. He would think about the results in the paper later. "The Kraang lied to us. It's a trap."

"Maybe it's not a trap. Maybe they lock a cow in there for the experiment like monkeys..." Mikey whispered, preparing the nunchucks.

"I wish it's just a cow."

A squeak sound from the monkeys made something, or _someone_ , behind the door getting mad. The monkeys were just panicked and blindly grabbed the chair. Before they could stop them, the door broke, and the floor turned into a chaos. The army of Kraang droids ran out of the door and attacked everything near them. Mikey jumped on the table, avoiding the stampede, while Leo hid behind the pillar.

They were used to get laser shot from the Kraang, but they hadn't thought one day the Kraang would attack them by their _teeth_. Because it wasn't very effective, right? The pink alien was small, short, and their small teeth (they had one?) were in the stomach. But Mikey screamed anyway when the Kraang in the droid's stomach was so desperate to bite him.

"AHHHHH! ZOMBIE KRAANG!" Mikey kicked it hard enough to send it flying out of the droid.

Leo glanced at the door. The Kraang kept running out like there was no tomorrow. Maybe there were a hundred of them inside. This wasn't good. "RUN!"

"AHH! THERE'RE TOO MANY!" Mikey ran to the stairs. Leo followed him.

"Get back to the ground!"

Mikey wasted no time to slide down on the curved handrail. Leo stayed behind to make sure they were safe. His brain quickly added more questions: _the Kraang did the experiment on themselves? Why? No, wait, they look a bit different…_

He took a look at the droid in front of him. They were in silver shape, a little blue neon light under its skin.

 _It's not the Kraang droid. It's-_

"LEO!"

His world spun when three droids hit him from the side, taking him off balance. He slashed and kicked them but they were persistent. One of them took his leg by surprise, and suddenly they pushed him over the edge.

The last thing he heard was the Kraang's howl when they were falling down with him.

* * *

It felt like all things went wrong every time they entered the Kraang's lab.

Since the beginning, their lives were in some kind of horror movie. The first time they went into Kraang's lab, Mikey got bitten by stalker. And the second time…

The scene played in slow motion as Mikey turned to find his big brother, only to see the Kraang droids tackled him and pushed him over the edge. Mikey tried to ran after him but he was too late. Leo fell from the stairs with the droids. Mikey gasped and released Kusarigama as fast as he could, throwing the chain to help Leo. But he could only catch the droid's leg that was in his way, clinging on Leo's limbs. He couldn't slow them down either as the droid's leg snapped in two pieces.

Then he realized a small mistake could take away his own brother's life.

Falling from the fourth floor, the sickening impact sound followed by Leo's scream brought him back to reality. He left everything behind and jumped off with the grappling hook, ignoring the remaining Kraang droids behind.

"LEO! Leo!"

Mikey almost stepped on the Kraang droids that lied still on the floor. Some of them were killed on the impact or getting impaled by rebar.

Leo didn't response. He was lying on his side in the middle of debris, blood bubbling from his mouth, eyes wide and mouth opened. He was supposed to land on his shell so he wouldn't get hurt badly from the impact, but he failed. Mikey skidded over and quickly got down to him, relieved to see Leo blinked at him. But only for a short moment.

His big brother gasped, trying to breathe.

"Mikey," Leo panted. "I'm okay."

An instant auto-reply was, "NO YOU'RE NOT! You're far from _okay_! Stop saying you're _okay_! You're not _okay_!"

"No, I'm-" Leo coughed. He didn't move to get up at all. Mikey thought because he was in pain. "I'm not bitten."

 _Oh. That sounded okay-ish but…_

 _Okay, Leo's still alive, that's good, right? He's just got hurt. Nothing I can't fix, right? Shell, he survived throwing through the window before, this is nothing, right?_ Mikey was on the edge of a panicking attack as he squeezed Leo's hand. His brother's response was too slow for his liking. Leo was _never_ slow. He was their leader and the best ninja, but how could he fail to protect himself from three opponents. They fought a hundred of foot bots before, three enemies were nothing compared to them.

 _What's happening? Was he distracted like before? Or…_

 _Oh right._

Mikey turned to look at other Kraangs that lied around him. They squirmed, trying to get up but rebar locked them in place.

 _He avoided getting bitten from them, so he failed to protect himself._

Mikey gulped. Then he turned to Leo and put his hands under his arm.

"Okay, okay, that's good to know. Now let's get out of here."

But when he tried to pull him up, Leo screamed again. Mikey almost dropped him but kept a firm grip on his arm.

"Leo!?"

Then he saw it.

The rebar that stuck out of the concrete impaled him on his side. He didn't know how long it was, but probably long enough to tear their internal organ. Half of it still stayed inside him, and _oh nonono too much blood..._

This time it was Leo who squeezed his arm.

"Help me up..." Leo spoke through gritted teeth. "...slowly."

Mikey's arms felt like a jelly. His energy was drained after he saw the wound. _How can Leo survive this? How is he going to survive this? How-_

Leo sensed his fear but he could only tighten his iron grip and clung to him, using him as a crutch. Good thing that Mikey was frozen like a statue. But he was too weak to stand on his own.

 _Thud!_

The katana dug deep on the ground. Leo threw his weight on it to keep balance and stared at his little brother fiercely, indignantly. His left hand held on his right side where the rebar pierced through him to stop the bleeding. The action snapped Mikey out of his shock and he looked at Leo with wide eyes.

"Mikey," Leo breathed. How he could stay intimidated and calm even if he was bleeding was beyond his understanding. "Stop looking like that. I'm-I'm fine."

"B-But"

"I can walk..." Leo glared at him so he shut up. "Let's… get out of here..."

He hated it when Leo lied to him, and he did it _twice!_ But Mikey had no other options than helping him to stand.

"You can?" Mikey's tone was a little higher than usual.

Leo shut his eyes for a few moments. "Yes… just… give me a minute."

"Umm..."

He wanted to say they didn't have a minute because infected Kraangs were coming to them. _Fast_. It was unfortunate that the brainy monster still remembered how to use stairs. Mikey looked up to see them and moved to support Leo, leading them both to the door. He didn't hear any protests so it probably was okay.

With one hand, he couldn't use nunchucks, but he wouldn't let them think he was an easy prey. He must show his brother that he could protect them. Mikey quickly scanned the ground and kicked the remained katana in the air, grabbing it with his free hand. Leo couldn't scold him for not being respectful to weapon as long as he didn't see it.

"Okay, we're good. Let's get out of here." He heard Leo grunted. Well, any noise from Leo was now welcomed. It meant he was alive. Mikey chuckled weakly. "Next time remind me not to step into the Kraang's lab again. Man, we never waltz out of their building."

One Kraang droid fell from the second floor in front of them, making Mikey flinch. The droid crawled slowly to him. Suddenly he felt the fire burst inside of him. If it wasn't because of Kraang, Leo wouldn't get hurt… Mikey slashed it using Leo's katana and kicked it away with anger.

"Serve you right for messing with turtles!" Mikey hissed, then he turned his head to Leo. "Hey, did you see my move? I'm getting better at katana..."

But Leo didn't answer, his head lolled on his shoulder with eyes close.

"Leo?"

 _Nonono it's not happening it's not happening_

"No..." Mikey quickly laid him back on the ground and checked his heartbeat. It was still there, and he was breathing. But he was finally unconscious; his body shut down from the pain. Mikey just noticed his head was also bleeding. His hands fell freely on his side, revealing the blood that seeping out of the wound.

He knew he shouldn't, but he shook Leo a few times.

"Leo, wake up! You gotta tell me what to do!"

No response. It looked like he was just sleeping, but the whole sleeping thing reminded him of Northampton. Leo was in a coma for months. But that time he had his family beside him, but now...

The Kraang droids were creeping behind him. He had to make a decision now. Leo told him to get out of this place and he had to follow that order. Mikey kneeled down and took his cloak off, switching his backpack on the front, getting Leo on his back. He sucked in his breath and let it out. It was so cold that he could see his own breath.

"You have a nerve to call me chubby when you weigh a ton." Mikey huffed. Somehow he hoped Leo would wake up to smack him but nothing happened. Leo was heavy, he never knew Leo's weight as he never carried anyone before. Usually, it was him who got carried back to the lair.

 _The lair..._

Mikey took Leo on his back and tried to run. But he found himself moving so slow. Mikey mentally cursed for his small frame compared to his brothers. He saw Leo and Raph took their turn for piggy back ride without problem.

 _Shell, Raph even ran with Leo on his back, why can't I do the same?_

Mikey gritted his teeth and took another step. It was heavy; the weight of his big brother was dragging him. He couldn't even lift Leo's feet from the ground. But he wouldn't stop, taking a step repeatedly until he reached the door.

He almost fell again but balanced himself quickly. He couldn't drop Leo. _Never_. When he raised his head again, he found the emptiness greeted him. The lonely campus. He didn't know which way to go. He had to move soon since the infected Kraang was moaning behind the door and they would come out eventually. Something inside him twisted and he burst out before he could stop himself.

"RAPH!"

He received no replies, of course. It was silly. Raph wouldn't conveniently be here to help him, but it was logical thing to do, at least to him.

"Donnie! Dad! Anybody!"

He was turning back and forth like a lost puppy that was trying to find its owner. No one was here, but his heart refused to believe it.

 _No one's here… I'm on my own..._

A single tear slid down from his bright blue eyes. Followed by another one, and another one, until it formed a steady stream down on his cheek, releasing the sorrow that had been held for all the time. Then he quickly shook his head.

 _I can't give up… not yet…_

 _Leo's not dead. He's just taking a nap. I just have to wait..._

So Mikey took a tentative but firm step as he carried Leo on his back. The warmth from Leo's body soothed his mind. He just hoped Leo would wake up again.

The first snow fell, but his mind was concerned about his brother so he didn't even notice it until some time later.


	19. Winter: Chapter 19

_It went downhill right after they reached nine._

 _When you lived in the sewers, there was a good chance that they would find small waterways. Despite that they were born swimmers, Master Splinter didn't allow four turtles to swim on their own until they were old enough to take care of one'self, remember the way home after resurfacing, and more importantly don't get sick. Although they were turtles and couldn't drown, human DNA kept them from staying underwater for too long. Swimming came naturally to them. They didn't need a teacher for this. Just jumped into the water and enjoyed the new world._

 _At the age of nine, Donnie was smart enough to diverse the clean, clear water from the pipes to the small pool in the lair so they could swim every time they wanted. Raph named it a ninja secret passage because they could sneak out to the outside. Sometimes Splinter caught them, probably had something to do with a drip on the floor. But that didn't stop the curious mutant turtles to go out. It was the way out to his and Raph's secret playground too, where it connected to the tunnel close to the surface, full of 'treasures' in the eyes of kids._

 _It started when Raph called him out of boredom and nudged him to go to 'adventure' together. Normally, it was just a trip around the sewers like how they went to scavenge in group, but today was different. Raph told him that he discovered a new secret place where 'treasures' lied. Mikey nodded eagerly and followed Raph out of the lair. The area was full of dry trashes which was awesome since most of trashes were flushed down to the damp sewers and only a few were clean. They played for a long time until Raph realized they would get in trouble if Splinter couldn't find them in the lair so he had to drag Mikey back. His little brother was reluctant until he promised Mikey that he would take him here again._

 _The day of celebrating their mutation was near, and their secret place gave Mikey an idea. He could find some presents for everyone._

 _It was quiet evening when he slipped off the lair. Using his ninja skill (he could do it when he really wanted to), he was out in the sewers. He couldn't ask Raph to go with him because it was going to be a secret for everyone. And what would happen to a lone turtle in the sewers? Raph sneaked out most of the time and he was fine, so he would be fine too. Mikey planned to find some clean papers to draw a card for his family. The nice clean papers were rare items, and it would help lifting the mood in the lair. The atmosphere in his home was currently dull for his sense and he wanted to fix it with some nice presents. Plus, he was out only an hour. It shouldn't be a problem, right?_

 _He was pretty proud of himself to come up with his own plan. Who said he was stupid? When he was sure no one was around, he dove into the pool. Remembering the direction, Mikey swam to the other side and got off the water to find their playground. Left, right, and right. There! He found their secret place again! Mikey grinned as he dug through the pile of trashes to find what he wanted. Someone threw away a box of crayons which was nice since he managed to grab some clean papers from the pile. and oh! He grinned when he dug some Space heroes collection cards. Leo's going to love this!_

 _He didn't know how much time he spent there. When he thought he had enough papers, minus stained ones, he put them in his bag and ran to the lair with full of hope. This will be the most awesome celebration ever._

 _Every plan had a flaw, of course._

 _His smile morphed into an 'O' shape when he bobbed his head out of water and gasped for breath and found Leo stood on the edge of the pool, frowning at him. His hands on hip like he was waiting for someone. Mikey gulped and offered him a sheepish grin._

 _"Umm, hey bro. Nice to see you out of the dojo early."_

 _"I know Raph is bad influence for you."_

 _Mikey cringed. "It's just a quick trip, big bro. No harm done."_

 _That was a wrong answer. Because Leo suddenly exploded._

 _"No harm done? Mikey, you've been missing for hours! We're searching for you everywhere. You're not in the lair, and now Master Splinter is out in the sewer because he's worried that you're lost! What were you thinking? Going out alone without telling us is stupid! I can't believe you didn't tell me!"_

 _Leo glared accusingly at him. It was what little brother got from the older brothers when he messed up. But something was different this time. It wasn't like Raph's heated gaze when he was mad or annoyed look from Donnie when he messed with his projects. Leo's eyes were different._

 _It was the first time he saw it. And he couldn't... oh god he couldn't look at his brother in the eyes without being ashamed. Because for once in his life Leo looked like he was truly disappointed in him, like he didn't deserve to be a ninja or even a brother. Like a slap on his face with 'why can't you be good for once?'. Mikey couldn't stand it and he looked away with guilty. It was hurt to see that look in his brother's eyes, reducing him into a black sheep of family, little brother who couldn't do anything right, a failure._

 _His lips trembling, Leo's gaze softened when Mikey turned away abruptly. Leo sighed and calmed down a bit._

 _"Just tell me next time, all right?"_

 _"'Kay..."_

 _He couldn't stand the weight of guilty. Sure, he got a lecture from time to time but nothing equaled to the previous look from Leo. Still, he could always win fights with Leo by bursting into tears, but this time he didn't want to do that. What's the point anyway? The tears won't take the disappointment from Leo._

 _He made a beeline to his room, not caring when Raph called after him. Mikey knew it was only a matter of time that Leo would start an argument with hothead and he made sure he would stay away from them. Not now. He had his own problem. He quickly climbed on his bed and threw the bag away. For a few moment he thought if he gave Space Heroes cards to Leo now, he would be less angry. He quickly scrambled back to his knees and emptied the bag._

 _His plan had more than one flaw, because he forgot that he carried papers. Papers and water didn't mix. They were all water-damaged. The deformed Captain Ryan which was Leo's favorite character was staring back at him. All cards were warped, adding wrinkles on his face. It looked like the captain was disappointed in him as well._

 _Feeling drained, he scraped them off his bed. He didn't need it anymore. He didn't care about it anymore._

 _He heard Leo and Raph having their usual argument again. Mikey thought he didn't want to see that look from Leo anymore. It hurt, so much. He wasn't the best student in the family, but he never disappointed anyone, right?_

 _The papers were forgotten, and the gap between them slowly stretched out._

* * *

Mikey literally dragged Leo for fifteen minutes until he realized he had to stop the bleeding first.

Driven by the fear of Kraang zombies (he'll name them later), his mind focused on one thing: escape. At least they were safe from getting bitten. Mikey turned his head around and observed the surrounding for the first time. They were on the main road, behind him was the university, so he must keep forward. He couldn't drop Leo to treat his wound. They were out in open and no way he could defend them both from hunters or clickers.

 _What to do!? What to do next?_

Fresh snow kept falling down. The cold probably froze his brain, he couldn't think of anything. Mikey tried to think but he was too panicked to think of anything _useful_. He saw the houses on the side of the road and debated whether he should go in. A small voice came from inside his head.

' _Make sure all doors and windows are strong enough to protect us from intruders while we're resting at night.'_

Mikey blinked. He remembered that words; Leo told him on the first day of their arrival. Of course, it was always Leo who found the shelter, foods, and water. Now he was on his own. He had to do this. Mikey shook his head and tried to concentrate again.

 _Right. I can find a shelter for us._

He had to choose one of these houses, probably the nearest since Leo's weight grew heavier on him. Mikey kicked the door and scanned for clickers or hunters. The house was dead quiet. He glanced at the broken windows and quickly searched for the basement's door. Taking Leo to downstairs was far more difficult than he thought. He had to make it very, very slow since he didn't want to trip on something and fell off. There were many times he swayed back and forth but he steadied himself before going down again. He couldn't fail. If he fell, Leo probably died for real. His step was slow, and Leo was still bleeding. The trail of blood followed him every move.

"Hang on, bro." Mikey gritted his teeth as he finally reached the floor.

The basement had been ransacked like every other place in the city. There was a dirty mattress at the corner and few empty glass bottles, but the floor was mostly dusty with some trashes. Someone used to set this place to be their home. Mikey didn't have time to find other houses so he hoped the owner didn't come back so soon.

Putting Leo on the mattress, he took Leo's backpack off and searched for the first aid box they found on the first day. Unlike his own backpack, Leo chose items inside carefully since they had to travel for a long time and could only carry a few things. Water bottle, maps, some dried foods, anything that was useful. Mikey opened the box and found the same needle that Leo used on him once, a roll of bandage that was probably been used a few times, cotton pads that he hoped nothing grows on them, and a thread that was long enough to stitch the wound. He glanced at his big brother's side, trying to remember how to stop bleeding. Usually, he was a backup when someone got hurt but he had seen Donnie treating the wounds so many times. He just had to stitch it as fast as possible…

Blood soaked through the pads in instant. Mikey was hoping Leo would groan in pain the moment he touched his wound but Leo didn't make any sound. He was just lying still which made Mikey even more panicked. He quickly grabbed needle, almost pierced through his own finger, and settled to stitch the wound. But he found that his own hands were shaking badly. At this rate, he probably added a second hole on Leo's side rather than treating the first one.

"Okay, okay, it's cool, dude. I saw Donnie used it on turtles more than hundred times. I'm totally expert now." Mikey sighed loudly, then he looked at Leo. "If it hurts, just tell me okay?"

He found the talking helps him better than anything. It helped to remind him that Leo was only unconscious, not _dead_. He tried not to think Leo was dead. Even if he didn't flinch when Mikey took a wrong aim to pierce his skin and was a little bit pale, he was still breathing. The blood was still warm. So he kept talking.

"Man, it's like we're taking a turn to get a stitch. And you know, I'm not a fan of needles. But maybe this curve needle doesn't hurt much. I'm glad you take it along. Who knows I'll have to use it on you." Mikey mumbled the last part when he concentrated on the suture. Mikey swallowed a lump in his throat. He tried not to remember how it felt the moment he pierced under the skin. He knew it hurt like his skin was burning. Maybe he was exaggerated but it hurt anyway.

The main obscure wasn't the blood, it was his own hands. They were shaking for ten minutes now. Mikey looked down at his hands and sighed. "Relax, dude. I'm as chilled as ice. Umm, I'm not shaking at all. Stop it, stupid hands."

He was ready to talk to anything in the room to make him calm down, even if it was his own hands. He even considered glaring at them until they stopped but it may take a long time so Mikey clenched and released them a few times until they stopped. Pushing everything aside, he _had to_ finish this.

He cleared his throat (Donnie did it when he focused on something so he copied him) and looked down at Leo. He felt nauseated all of sudden and wanted to run off, or wake up if he was still dreaming. But he couldn't. Because he knew Leo only had him and him alone. He had to focus on the moment, as much to hold on to his sanity. He carefully put Leo's hand on his lap.

"Don't be afraid. Right. You're not afraid of needle right? Fearless Leader has nothing to fear! But, well, uh, you know, I held on you when you sewed me, so I'll be generous and let you hold on me. It's only fair. Not that I'm afraid or something, I'm totally cool..."

His right hand started shaking again. Damn. He didn't have time for this. Mikey bit his bottom lip and continued anyway. The stitch wasn't pretty like the one Leo did for him, but at least he didn't have to worry about the blood loss. He bandaged the wound quickly and sighed. Then he moved to clean Leo's head wound. He repeated the same process and didn't stop talking at all.

"See? You're in the good hand. I promise I'll do it as fast as I can. Just like you promised me last time. It'll be fine. Leo'll be fine..."

 _I'll be fine._

The whole monolog was for himself. It was the way he pretended that he wasn't afraid. Leo would live. Yes, nothing could stop him from living. He was in a coma before and he was fine, so this time he would be fine too.

 _But what if he's unconscious for three months again?_

Mikey shuddered at that thought, making his hand slipped. A tiny drop of blood appeared on Leo's skin.

"Oh shell, so much blood..." He used the soaking pads on Leo's head before start stitching again. The wound on Leo's head was small and not too deep; it would heal within a few days. Mikey looked relieved when he finished, then he used their precious water to wash his skin. When he was done, he rushed off to find some towels or blankets in the houses for Leo. It was getting cold outside and inside the house so he had to keep Leo warm.

"There. Easy, right?" He sat beside his brother and tried not to look at his hands. The green skin on his hands covered in red. Leo's blood. All Leo's blood. He knew it would turn sticky but at the limited resource, he didn't want to waste their water.

Suddenly he couldn't take it anymore. A few hours ago they were still fine walking in the city, joking about going to the university like normal teenagers. But now Leo was hurt, dying possibly. He burst into tears and curled himself on the floor. Why was there so much blood? Why did his hands never stop shaking? He also felt relieved that he could perform the suture for the first time. He should be proud of himself. But was it okay? Did he do something wrong? Because Leo didn't wake up at all. What if he _did_ something wrong? Leo would die, and it was all on him.

 _I hate Kraang! I hate Kraang! I hate Kraang!_

Then he heard a magical sound from Leo, a groan, but his eyes were still closed. But that was enough for him to stop crying. Mikey wiped his damp face with his bloody hands, smearing blood all over his face which probably was the horror sight and he would have a nightmare about it. But the basement didn't have a mirror so he couldn't see the reflection of himself.

"Leo?"

Leo's eyes were closed, which was again good thing because Mikey wouldn't know what to do if Leo saw blood all over his face. But Mikey wanted him to wake up. To tell him what to do. At Least he thought Leo's gain some color back. Mikey sighed, gaining a little composure he had.

"We don't actually have blood bank right now, and if we have, I don't know how to give it to you. I mean, this is the end of the world. We're lucky to have a first aid, but you'll need more than a stitch. Let's see..."

Mikey thought about his big brother back on Earth, recalling what Donnie usually did what he got the cut.

 _I stop the bleeding. Is it enough? It probably is enough. But Donnie always injects me with some med liquid after that. I only know it hurts terribly like burning skin; it must be some kind of antibiotics…_

There was no time for sitting around and crying. Mikey harshly wiped his tears again. With new determination, he had to save his brother.

 _There're so many things to do. I have to find medicines, foods, water. Yeah, I used all water to clean his wound. And need some clothes. It's getting cold. I need to find some human clothes and sew up a cloak… Oh god, we don't have IV. How can I feed him? I have to wake him up at some point. So many things to do…_

He was torn between two choices. If he wanted to help his brother, he had to leave Leo. But he didn't want to. Mikey clenched his fist on his lap, glaring stubbornly at them to make them stop shaking.

"I-I have to find a hospital. You need antibiotics. It must be a super healing booster since Donnie injected it every time I got a cut, so it must be important. But, uh, honestly, I don't wanna leave you. We're two turtles short so if I go, who'll look after you? And I, eh, I don't really know where the hospital is and even if I find it I don't think there'll be antibiotics lying around because, you know, meanie people everywhere. This dimension is in chaos. And I don't wanna… leave your side too. Just in case you want to go to toilet..."

That was a lame excuse and he knew it. It wasn't like Leo would get up to smack his head if he told the most stupid joke. Mikey rubbed his brother's hand, warming it a bit.

"You gotta-" Mikey sniffed. "You gotta say something, dude."

He couldn't fail this. His brother's life was on his hand. He didn't want to disappoint him again. The burden of the unwanted leader fell on him. It depended on him and only him to keep both of them alive. Even if he messed up, he just wanted to see Leo opened his eyes again. Disappointed or not, he just didn't care anymore.

"Leo..." Mikey's fingers trailed on his plastron. "Please wake up."

His brother remained still, only his chest rose and fell as he breathed.

* * *

There was a tale that Master Splinter told him a long time ago about how ninja trained on the snowed mountain. When they needed water, they dug snow into a bucket and stamped their feet repeatedly on it until snow melt. Splinter said it was for training one's body and mind. But Mikey thought it sounded exhausting, they had to waste too much energy just to get water. But here, he began to think it made sense since he needed water so much and he didn't want to wander in the wood to find the stream. He remembered they had to keep Leo hydrated when he was in the coma. Here, he didn't have a warm water with a nice bathtub so he had to put many blankets on him to keep him warm. Thin fabric provided a little comfort in the cold weather.

The thought of finding medicine kept nagging on the back of his head but he couldn't leave Leo. He must choose to leave Leo to find medicine or to see him slowly slipping away... But what if his big brother woke up and found no one? Shell, he should pay attention when Master Splinter taught them about herbs. Only Leo learned how to make herbs. But it wasn't like he could find wild plants out there. A few hours had passed and outside was full of snow.

He found the idea of crying like a bipolar was enticing but he couldn't lose himself. Not right now. He probably cried later when Leo woke up.

The sun was going down, leaving the world into the darkness again. On the second floor, he found a stack of colored paper in the old bedroom. Must be the girl's room since the torn wallpaper was in striped pink. He also found a full set of color pen but the ink was dry years ago. But luck was on his side, there was a crayon box in the drawer. He quickly grabbed items and ran back to the basement.

This was going to be the solution. He couldn't leave Leo alone without leaving a note on where he went, so he would make the note! That way Leo could keep track on him. Mikey stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth and grabbed the crayon to write the first note.

His stomach growled as he missed lunch and breakfast. Mikey frowned. For several months they had little to eat but his stomach demanded the same amount of food like he was in the lair. Great. He was going insane but his body didn't change a bit. He needed to find some foods soon. He glanced at Leo. His brother didn't eat or drink for a day so he had to wake him up at some point or think of something...

He was about to continue scribbling when he heard Leo's voice.

"Mikey..."

Hearing his name, Mikey's heart leaped and quickly scrambled to Leo's side.

"Leo!" He rubbed some dried blood on his cheeks, hoping he looked decent. "How are you?"

Leo barely opened his eyes. He blinked a few times until his dizziness disappeared, but he didn't answer.

"Leo…?" Mikey tried again. It was like Leo wasn't fully awake yet. His mouth was moving but no sound came out. Mikey leaned closer and touched the side of Leo's face, encouraging him to speak.

"You...okay?" Leo finally rasped.

Mikey gave him the best smile. "I'm perfectly fine, bro. We're in the house near the university. No clickers or Kraang zombies follow us here so it's probably safe. Do you want some water? I save some for you… and, uh, how are you? It's kinda important because I want to know if I have to find the hospital to medicines. Do you think there'll be some left for us? I mean, people here steal everything they can..."

His voice trailed off as Leo closed his eyes.

"Bro…?"

Leo probably heard only the first sentence and slipped back to unconsciousness again. Mikey sighed, leaning back as he sat beside the mattress. He sat there and stared at Leo for a long time in hope of his big brother woke up again. Taking care of someone was definitely wearisome. The things Leo did to him looked so easy until their roles were switched.

His hands were shaking again.

 _I can't do this._

 _Help me..._

But all he could mutter was,

"I miss you."

It was his turn to close his eyes, snuggling close to Leo as much as possible.

* * *

 **Author's note:** I rewrite this chapter many times and I'm still not satisfied…sorry.

I've decided that the next chapter will be M rating. the whole idea about winter doesn't go well with just T rating so...sorry. There'll be 2-3 chapters in M rating and things will be back to normal, hopefully.

Off topic (obviously), I've seen the new ss5 episodes and I have to say, I take all my complaints back. Turtles actually become teenagers. Mikey is actually smart in his own way. Leo's adapting to become sensei(?). Donnie has anger issue lol. The only one that I don't see much is Raph which is a shame since I kinda like him. So far ss5 is great! AND I'M OVERWHELMED BY LEO/MIKEY MOMENTS AHHH SO MANY I LOVE YOU! Thanks for focusing on them. I really like them and you write them well, script writer. I hope you keep it up. This is as good as the first season!

Space heroes is kind of creepy, though...

 **Replies:** Guest (Mar 29) - I'm just writing how I interpret him. I really like him 2003 ver. and a few episodes in 2012 s1. He's dependable in some situation and can remain funny. This is just... how I see him, I guess.

Guest (Apr 4) - Aww thank you so much! I'll try to stick with monthly update but we'll see... new chapter is up and I hope you enjoy it!


	20. Winter: Chapter 20

**Warning :** Violent scene and a hint of cannibalism. There will be some violence towards one particular character and if you read and don't like what you see you can skip until chapter 23, or 24, or 25, I'm not sure… I'm sorry!

 **Author's note :** I'm actually not familiar with the rating system so I think this chapter is semi-M rating just to be safe. Some conversations are from LoU script.

Off topic, Life is Strange 2 is coming! So happy! And, uh, I discover Beyond: two souls and spend 7 hours in watching it… great game!

And, yeah, I'm sick again… and depressed... because I don't sleep well. Pretty sure it's not migraine but my head hurts anyway. I'll leave you a mega cliffhanger before disappear for a month. I know, I know, another excuse. But bad thing happened and I'm very sad right now...

* * *

 _It was a lie, at least that was what he thought._

 _He lied._

 _It wasn't on purpose. Many years passed and a few things slipped off his mind. It wasn't helping when he lost every time whenever his brothers put up the vote. Mikey this, Mikey that. Why was it always be his fault? Didn't they know he can get mad too?_

 _So when he got a chance to get back at his older brother he immediately jumped at it. Stupid King of the Mountain game. Everything had to be about Leo and not him. Why not him? Leo was always right and he was always wrong._

 _He didn't mean to lie._

 _But when Mikey left him behind and followed Raph and Donnie, didn't bother to turn back and see the flash of hurt on Leo's face. It was a good feeling to be on A-plus team that he totally forgot about the promise that two turtles must be on the both sides to even the odds._

 _He didn't mean to leave Leo alone._

* * *

Mikey felt like he geared up everything to march to war. He hid his body under the gray cloak he previously got from Leo and didn't forget to tear the fabric a bit to wrap his scar on his arm. He didn't want someone to see it and mistook him as a clicker. Being green was difficult enough to deal with a human. Mikey shivered a bit. Human clothes were rare in this area. They scavenged everything they could find and left a little for those who came later. Mikey didn't blame them. Human tried to survive, and so was he. Mikey grabbed the bow, arrows, and one of Leo's katana to hunt. Thankfully Leo taught him many things about camping and survival skills during the time they were traveling, though it was different when he had to be on his own, alone, without his brother watching his back. He must collect foods as much as possible. He didn't know how long he could come out like this.

It had been approximately twelve hours since Leo was down. Mikey had a debate with himself whether he should go out to find medicine or stay by his side. In the end, his stomach decided for him. He left all supplies beside Leo's bed and a note to tell his brother where he went in case Leo woke up.

Mikey really, _really_ wished Leo would wake up soon. He would hunt something and hurried back to Leo. He didn't like leaving his big brother alone in the basement. Clickers might come after him, Kraang zombies too. Mikey thought as his feet stepped on a thin layer of fresh snow. It was cold and quiet. There were some sort of small community nearby, and the houses. Everything was too quiet. There was no sign of life here, no sign whatever, only death. Mikey shuddered at that thought and quickly moved into the forest, hopefully, he could find something to eat.

He glanced at the pouch at his belt. He did the weapon check this morning since he had to be prepared. He only had ten ninja smoke pallets left so he must use it for emergency only. Mikey tried not to stare at it too long because it looked like normal egg and it made his mouth water because he was craved for fried egg. It felt like years since he had one.

He wondered if he could have used one of them during their previous crisis. But he realized it was no use. He got bitten because the stalker suddenly fell from the ceiling, and Kraang zombies pushed Leo off the edge by surprise. Ninja smoke pallets wouldn't help them.

 _No, it won't change anything._

 _Still, if I try harder…_

 _Focus. If you don't, we're all doomed._

Next time he won't hesitate to use the bomb to get out of the situation. Mikey took a deep breath and looked for a sign of animal, bow and arrow ready in his hands.

One of the good things that happened after the world's apocalypse was there were no human's boundaries. The trees grew in the city and sometimes he saw a wildlife on the road. There was no pollution which made animals came close to human's area. As he walked passed the trees, the quiet forest rewarded him with the lone deer, scraping what was left on the tiny plant on the dirt. Mikey spotted it immediately and hid himself to find the angle to shoot. A deer. It had to be a deer. He remembered back in Northampton when Leo was out to hunt and came back limply to the house, telling them to go camping in the forest. That was where everyone saw the magical deer; the same deer that guided Leo back to be their strong leader again.

Mikey looked at his cloak. It was gray like the one Leo had in Northampton, and he had bow and arrows too. He pretty much looked like Leo.

 _I look like Leo. Does it mean this deer will guide me too?_

 _Nah, it'll be our dinner._

 _But what if it leads me to, I don't know, the reinforcement?_

 _Come on, you're not Leo. You can't do that._

Mikey hung his head at that thought (he began to hate his negative thoughts so much it never said anything good!). Once he cleared his mind, he took an aim and shot. The arrow hit the target and the deer quickly ran away. Mikey jumped and followed them. A second arrow should take it down.

 _It's leading me into the forest. Is that a good thing? I haven't seen Raph or Donnie in months. Wonder when they will come to look for us._

 _I miss Donnie… he should be here with me. He'll know what to do…_

 _Yeah, in the end, I still want Donnie to be here._

But he did want Leo to be with him too. It wasn't that bad when they spent the time together. Leo may be bossy, but he always knew what to do. It felt weird at first because they were never close. Leo felt like he was on the top of pillar and Mikey was on the ground looking up at him...

 _It'll change. After this madness ends, everything between us will change..._

Mikey panted as the deer ran out of his sight. _How can you stay alive?_ Mikey wondered, following the trails of blood on the white floor. It led him into the collapsed wood factory. This was a new territory. The familiar view disappeared as the trees and wood factory came in sight.

"Oh great. This place is not creepy at all." He told himself, gathering his confidence. There were too many hiding places. He didn't want to stay until he ran into clickers or hunters. Facing the great enemy alone wasn't in his plan for this afternoon. Right. He was alone, without his brother's aid, so might as well get this over with. Mikey stopped when he saw the deer fell dead on the snow outside.

 _Gotcha._

Successfully hunt it down, Mikey was about to inspect his prey when ninja instinct told him he wasn't alone. It was like someone or something was watching him. Mikey turned around quickly and aimed at the large tree in front of him.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

If it was a clicker, he would surely fire before it reached him. But the sight of two men stepping out behind the tree, holding both hands up as a surrender pose caught him surprised. Real human? Not clickers? Mikey held his aim, didn't want to lose his chance to shoot if they were hunters. Had to be cautious when meeting a new human being.

"Hello...we just want to talk." The middle-aged man with mustache waved at him. Mikey widened his eyes. It had been so long since he found a decent human who didn't want to gouge him. He kept his aim and remained silent though, wondering if his cloak covered all his inhuman skin.

The other man looked very cautious. When Mikey didn't respond, the first man offered a smile. "Um, name's David, this here's my friend James. We're from a larger group - women, children. We're all very, very hungry."

Mikey quirked his eye ridge. The wheel in his head tried to figure out what they wanted. They were nothing like Henry and Sam; they looked too kind to a stranger like him. Mikey was sure these men could take his prize by force judging from the rifle on David's back. They just chose to be fair which was weird because most of humans he found were never fair.

"Yeah, me too." He meant the hungry part. He didn't want to share the deer since he was the one who shot it.

David spoke again with a soft voice. "Well maybe we could, ah, trade you for some of that meat there."

The wheel in his head was working overtime or he began to lose his mind because this time his ' _angel and devil'_ formed into little Mikey on his shoulders. The little Mikey with the crown was on his right, and Turflytle was on his left.

' _Wait, what? What are you?'_ Mikey mentally asked.

' _I'm the devil who speaks your thoughts, buzz buzz.'_ Turflytle proudly presented himself. ' _What do you think you're doing? You can't trust human! Remember last time you trusted Chris Bradford, buzz buzz?"_

' _But you trust April and Casey right?'_ Little Mikey with the crown tilted his head. ' _They look kind. I'm sure they can help us!'_

Mikey turned left and right to see them on his shoulders. ' _I am going insane. Why do I see both of you outside my head!?'_

' _You imagine us, buzz buzz. Nothing's wrong with a little creative, buzz buzz. We'll keep you company until Leo wakes up, buzz buzz.'_

He began to understand why Raph was annoyed when he did buzz-buzz thing. ' _Go away! I don't wanna see you right now! I need to focus!'_

Turflytle pouted. ' _Oh all right, buzz buzz.'_

' _And Turflytle, aren't you supposed to be a good guy? You're superhero!'_

' _Nah. I'll stick with evil this time. It's cooler, buzz buzz.'_

' _Did you mean I should be a bad guy?'_ Little Mikey with the crown whimpered as he was about to cry.

' _No, no! I didn't mean that - just go away, both of you! I really need to stay sane now!'_

Turflytle shrugged and disappeared, while little Mikey lingered for a moment. ' _You trust Henry and Sam. Not every human in this world is bad, you know.'_

' _...yeah, I know.'_

And then he disappeared. Mikey sighed as he regained what was left of his sanity. He realized that David was still talking to him.

"What do you need? Weapons, ammo, clothes-"

Mikey asked before he could stop himself. "Medicine! Do you have any antibiotics?"

Both men were quiet for a moment. Mikey just asked for antibiotics. For Leo. Since he couldn't find the hospital. This should be the best way. A trade for medicine. He was so desperate that he asked the first stranger he met. But why did he feel like he did the wrong thing? David glanced at his buddy, perhaps sending a signal? Or they just realized his only company was seriously injured. Oh god, they _knew_. _They knew they knew they knew-_

Thankfully, David interrupted his thought. "We do. Back at the camp. You're welcome to follow us-"

"No!" Mikey yelled, keeping his aim on David. He did a mistake once, now they knew he had an injured companion, he wasn't going to do it again. "I'm not following you anywhere. I can't… I-I… just get it for me and we'll trade here. I'll wait."

Mikey didn't bother to hide his desperation for medicine. He tried to stay calm, and focus, like Leo would do, but he couldn't. He needed it so Leo would get better. He really, really needed it.

David turned to order James. "Two bottles of penicillin and a syringe. Make it fast."

James looked back at Mikey one last time with distrust, and something told him that they _knew_. They knew another thing about him. Of course, it was obvious. He was using only three green fingers to hold the bow. Mikey's blood ran cold. The cloak couldn't cover all of him, shadows did. But this was broad daylight in the middle of snow forest, of course they would notice he was _different_.

 _They know, but they still agreed to trade with me._

 _I guess they're desperate, just like I am._

David still acted normally, as normal as a human could be.

"Hey kid, he's probably gonna be awhile. You, ah, mind if we take some shelter from the cold?"

Mikey hesitated, but the cold was biting his skin, digging through his bones. What should he do? What would _Leo_ do? But this human seemed...kind. They just wanted some meats. He lowered the bow and gestured to the deer. "Bring him with us."

David drags the deer inside the wooden house. Mikey followed him, not sure if he could trust the man yet. David still treated him like a human kid, and he just called him ' _kid'_ , so it was probably okay. David sat down to build a fire. Mikey wanted to hold out his hands close to the fire but too afraid to show his hands. Luckily, David broke the ice first.

"It's, uh, may I ask what happened to your hand?"

 _Well, that's subtle._

Under the cloak, Mikey was fidgeting his hands. "It's always been this way… Err… I mean, there's chemical thingy exploded and since then my body...changed."

 _Yep, not a lie, just save some unnecessary details. At least this time I'm not an alien from outer space._

"It changes your skin color too?"

"Umm, yeah." He made sure not to reveal his body or more questions would come.

"I'm sorry to hear that," David said with sympathy. "You know you really shouldn't be out here all on your own. You're just a kid."

He preferred David to ask about his mutation than _that_. Yeah, he shouldn't be alone. Well, he wasn't entirely a weak _kid._ He was sure he could hold his ground if clickers or hunters came _._ But until Leo was healed, he would be alone for a while. He didn't prepare to be alone for long, just as long as it was needed. Mikey didn't answer and got close to the fire as much as possible. He wasn't talkative like his usual self as he didn't fully trust the human.

Apparently, talking was the best way to get through the time as David asked him again.

"What's your name?"

Mikey blinked and looked up a bit. David looked at him in the eyes. He didn't know what he saw in the man. Still debating inside his head. Turflytle said he couldn't trust human, but some part of him wanted to trust someone, someone that was willing to help him.

"Michelangelo."

The heavy silence dropped between them. Finally, David averted his eyes. "I understand it's not easy to trust a couple of strangers. Whoever's hurt, you clearly care about them. I'm sure it's gonna be just fine."

Of course they _knew_. But his kind words eased the ache in his heart a little. Mikey nodded slightly.

"Yeah…"

And they waited.

* * *

Mikey was nodding off when he heard a familiar disgusting sound, clicker's noise. He quickly stood up and saw David was already at the window, looking out to see their direction with a gun in his hand. Mikey gulped. He was too relaxed to be with the stranger with a gun. He was so careless that he almost felt Leo's disappointed gaze on his shell, except it wasn't possible because Leo was still lying in the basement waiting for him. His hands were on the nunchucks at his side. The noise grew closer, coming from every direction. This was definitely a large horde of clickers.

He knew he shouldn't scream but he couldn't help it when a clicker entered the house. David didn't hesitate to kill it. It was just a start. More infected approached them. The man shut the door and put a tarp on the deer.

"Damn. James's not back yet." David moved quickly to guard the window. It was good to have at least one adult; they always knew what to do. "No matter what, we have to keep them out. Let's hope they don't find him. Cover the windows."

Mikey didn't protest as he put the nunchucks out, ignoring the worried stare from David.

"You can fight, right? You need a gun?" David asked.

"No, I'm good."

Mikey didn't want to explain why he fought with a piece of wood. He didn't need to. He just had to show David how this worked. The clickers came to the window and tried to get in, but Mikey hit its head hard enough to send it to the ground. A sickening sound echoed through the house, mixing with the gunshot sound. He could hold them on his own which made the human actually impressed. The first wave passed but the distant noise told them the infected kept coming.

David glanced outside and shook his head. "Nothin' over here. Oh lord, there's a whole lot of 'em comin' at us. We're gettin' outta this room." He kicked down a boarded-up door nearby, making an escape route. "Alright, kid. This way."

Behind the door was the passage into the old factory. David gestured his hand. "Follow me. Through here."

Mikey frowned. He was entering another unfamiliar territory again, and even worse, with the human he just met fifteen minutes ago. He hated this. "Okay. Do you know where you're going?"

David chuckled, holding the rifle on his side to run. "I've never set foot in this place."

"Oh..."

A moldy smell hit him before he stepped inside. The factory was very old but large. The stairs connected to the messy working area. David ran up to the stairs and whispered to him. "This way. Stay close."

Mikey was wondering if he was too obedient to follow every order from David, but he thought it felt right like he had an older guy taking care of him. He felt safe, even though he saw that David wasn't a really good shooter; he missed a lot, and that didn't sound good because it meant Mikey had to rely on his skill only to get them out alive. But then the clicker's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Shit. They're in here too? Keep a lookout for those things." David muttered. "We need to find a way outta here. There's gotta be a way outta here."

They ran to the door that led them to the corridor. Clickers were still nearby as he heard a cry from them; man and woman, once humans, were following them. Mikey shuddered and took a step back. His foot caught on something, making he yelped and fell ungracefully on his butt.

"Hey kid, watch yourself - oh shit."

Mikey blushed at his own clumsiness. But when he put his hand behind him to get up, he found something. A corpse.

"Ahh!" Mikey scrambled to his feet, trying to get behind David. It looked like someone already fought those things and lost. Not a good sign.

David sighed. "Ah, Lord. I've been lookin' for these boys..."

Mikey took a deep breath. _Don't panic. It's just a corpse. You've seen a hundred of corpses before. Don't get a nightmare because of it. Leo's sick and you have to focus._

 _Heh. I bet that piece of advice is from little Mikey in my head..._

"You okay, Michelangelo?"

Mikey startled a bit because he felt like it had been forever since someone called his name. "Umm, yeah, yeah, I guess. Just - want to get out of here as fast as possible."

They were in another room on the second floor. David turned around and grumbled. "It's a dead end. How on earth did they use this building?"

"There's no way out?!"

"I'm gonna look for an exit. Keep your eyes open."

Mikey got his weapon ready. This was the first day without Leo by his side and he already ran into trouble. But he couldn't die here. He had to go back.

Something was crawling on the roof. Mikey wiped his head at that direction and whispered. "Did you hear that?" David turned to him. They both heard an odd infected noise above their heads. "It's coming from the roof!"

"I know!" David hissed, taking a rifle out.

Mikey spun his nunchucks nervously. "That thing can climb!? Oh wait - of course it can."

But when clicker showed itself, he was shocked to see the strange creature so large it almost twice his height. Any feature that was used to be human was gone. It didn't look like human at all; it was like a faceless monster. It didn't run fast like clicker, maybe because it had the heavy body. The biggest infected he had ever seen.

"But I don't know that thing can!" Mikey squeaked. "What is that!?"

"It's bloater!" David started shooting. The bloater lost the balance and fell to the ground. The fall didn't kill it, however.

"Bloater? Huh, yeah, it looks like it's ready to explode." Mikey stopped for a short moment. "...umm, don't tell me..."

"Yeah, it can explode!" David reloaded the rifle. "I know you're good with your weapon but don't get too close. It can shoot a spore."

 _Oh great. A zombie that can shoot. Great._ "Yeah, okay."

Mikey ran around to distract it while David shot, but many empty cartridges passed and it didn't go down. This creature was tough. Tougher than any clicker he had fought. David would run out of bullets soon. Mikey switched to Kusarigama to do some ninja trick. There was only one enemy. He could do this. He could restrain it with the chain.

"What're you doin?" David yelled from the side.

"Keeping him in one place so he can't chase us around." _I can do it. I've done it millions of times,_ He thought as he threw the chain to wrap around its torso and pulled, but it didn't move at all. Instead, it began to walk slowly and dragged him along. Mikey tried to pull again but the bloater was stronger than him.

"Uh! He's strong!"

"Hold him like that!" Even if the chain didn't stop it from walking toward David, the bloater was definitely slower than before. David kept shooting at its head but the fungus plate didn't break. The human took a few steps back. "Oh god…"

Mikey tried to pull again, but he heard a weird noise from bloater, like something whistled in the air. When Mikey looked up, he saw the first spore shot coming to him. Mikey yelped as he jumped out of the way.

"Ahhhh!"

The chain around it loosened. Kusarigama fell on the floor uselessly. Bloater was free again and walked to him. Not good. At all. Mikey rubbed his forehead furiously and ran again. "Okay, Mikey, think!"

For some reason, mini Turflytle and little Mikey were back.

' _Ah, it's our turn again? Buzz buzz.'_

' _Umm, not really good timing, Mikey-me.'_ Little Mikey with a crown rubbed his arm nervously when he saw the bloater shooting spore at David.

' _Huh? Wait! No I didn't call you! But… did you just give me a nickname? Like me giving a nickname to myself? Oh wow, kinda awesome. I can give a nickname to myself.'_

Turflytle and little Mikey looked at each other before Turflytle went to the window, pretending to see something interesting outside.

' _What're you doing, Turflytle?'_ Mikey asked.

' _Finding your focus, buzz buzz. I think it's out of the window, buzz buzz.'_

Mikey slapped his forehead. ' _Oh shell! Right. Focus! How can I beat him?'_

Turflytle flew back to his shoulder and tilted his head to look at the large infected. ' _If I look from this angle, he looks like the Creep, buzz buzz.'_

' _Ooooh. That walking plant-eating mutagen? I remember him.'_ Little Mikey said excitingly. ' _Plants share the same weakness.'_

Mikey looked at the younger version of himself with mouth hanging. ' _I don't know. What is its weakness? Master Splinter? He threw the Creep over his shoulder once… Leo? Raph? Ninja kick? Pizza? Umm, no, normal plants aren't afraid of them so...fire?'_

The light bulb in his head turned on as both of his imaginary friends grinned before disappeared. With a new determination, Mikey slid on the floor to get Kusarigama back and ran toward the man.

"David! I have a plan! Can you hold him off for a sec?"

David glanced at him for a moment before reloading his rifle. "What's your plan, kid?"

Mikey grinned. "One crispy rotten mushroom coming right up."

He switched the weapon quickly to show the sickle blade and shuriken in his hands. David raised his eyebrow at the strange weapon but decided to ask about them later.

Mikey spotted the can of oil on the floor near two corpses. Trying not to think about how they died, he grabbed the can and shook it a bit. There was some oil left so maybe he could do this. He swung the chain to the beam above its head while David shot. Then he jumped.

He was kind of break every rule that human could not do with his flexibility.

David looked at him, surprised to see that he could jump so high in the air. Holding the chain tight, he opened the can and let the oil spray all over the infected. Mikey made sure it stayed away from David as he did a middle-air flip to get on the beam. Then he snatched four shurikens, and with a little spark, the shurikens were on fire. Mikey sprang from above and threw shuriken at the infected. The sharp edge pieced into the fungus armor that protected bloater's body. Mikey saw a molotov one time in New York in this world. He knew how it works.

"Eat this!"

Oil and fire gave an impressive effect on bloater as it screeched. The plan worked. Fire made it struggle, its skin was melting, but it was still too stubborn to die. While it was burning, it shot two spores at him. David gasped and got the rifle ready. But Mikey threw smoke pellets at them before it reached him. The yellow spores exploded, mixing with purple smoke from pellets. Mikey leaped to the side to avoid breathing spores. This time he used his speed to get close enough to sweep its legs and ran back before it could shoot spore at him. Bloater's skin burned and finally caused an effect on it as it fell on the knees. And finally, it slumped to the floor. David shot it head repeatedly until it died.

David shot it head repeatedly until it died.

"Wow..." Mikey panted. He threw, jumped, and threw until it was finally dead. He even used two precious smoke pellets. This thing was definitely tough, tougher than any clicker. He was actually glad that he didn't fight it alone.

"Never seen anyone fight like you before, kid. That's really somethin'." David complimented like an adult did to a kid, and in this situation he was _that_ kid. But he didn't mind at all, as long as he wasn't alone. The whole building was suddenly quiet. David glanced around to check for more infecteds and walked back to the door. "You know, I think we did it."

"We did? Like, it's really dead? No more clicker or bloater?"

"I'll check."

David waited for a few moment to make sure he didn't hear any clicker noise. Mikey looked up at him hopefully.

"No rotten mushroom?"

"No rotten mushroom." David chuckled, rubbing Mikey's head with odd affection. "What'd I tell ya? Alright. Let's head on back, check on that buck of ours."

* * *

On the way back, Mikey thought about what happened. His mind still didn't believe that he took down the most dangerous infected he had ever seen. But he wasn't fighting alone, David was with him. Even if he was the one who finished it, he wouldn't be able to do it alone... Turflytle and little Mikey in his head were still arguing whether or not they could trust David. Mikey was grateful, at least, that he had David back then. He couldn't fight that infected alone. After he got medicine, he probably came back to visit their camp. They seemed to be a nice group

They return to the deer cabin and crouch by the fire, resting after the fight. James surely took his sweet time to come back so Mikey sat down by the fire, waiting again. David spoke to him in a good nature. "You handled yourself pretty nice back there. Ha, whew, I say we make a pretty good team."

"Nah. We got lucky," Mikey replied. He felt more comfortable with this human than before. It felt good to have a leader again. To have someone to tell him what to do.

David laughed. "Lucky? No, no...no such thing as luck. No, you see... I believe that everything happens for a reason."

Mikey just listened. Philosophy was never his favorite; it was more like Leo's or Donnie's. But he didn't deny that listening about this topic made him miss Leo. Mikey was sure his big brother would be enthusiastic to join in. The man took a few minutes staring at the blank space behind him like he was slipping from the present and thinking about the past.

Then David tended the fire and said quietly "Really, I do. And I can prove it to you." the human cleared his throat and looked at the fire intently. "Now, this winter has been especially cruel. A few weeks back, I ah...sent a group of men out - nearby town to look for food. Only a few came back."

Mikey listened to him, blinking. He wasn't sure what David trying to say but he remained silent, listening. David gave him a small smile.

"They said that the others had been, ah, attacked by some kind of freak using weird weapons." David looked at his hands that held the nunchucks a moment ago. Mikey felt a chill ran down his shell. Maybe it was because of the cold…

"And get this, they said a freak, green creature, attacked them."

His eyes widened.

David met his eyes slowly, keeping stoic expression.

"You're good fighter, I can see. I'm sure you can survive out there just fine. You can hunt your own food. But we're not as good as you are, and we have more mouths to feed. So, you see? Everything happens for a reason."

…

Mikey felt like the time froze. David tilted his head when he saw Mikey slowly stood up and took a step back, his lips quivering.

"Now don't get upset. It's not your fault. You're just a kid."

David spoke with calmness as usual, but this time it was cold, detached. When human didn't move, Mikey took his bow and arrow, aiming at David who was sitting near the fire and not even looked at him like he was just chilling around.

' _Everything happens for a reason.'_

 _It's not true. He didn't mean it like that. He was just - just…_

 _He wants to kill me all along._

Perhaps he was shocked by what he just heard from David that he didn't hear a step behind him. It started with a gunshot, a direct hit to his back. Mikey yelped with pain as he hit the ground. Gritting his teeth, he didn't register their words as he used another ninja pellet for distraction, and to give enough time for him to overcome his pain to move to the beam above. The commotion broke out as the men yelled and coughed. Mikey took a breath and shut his eyes for a moment. The snow and a few trees outside weren't a good hiding place. Maybe he could go to the roof just like bloater. He still had ninja pellets left so he should be fine. This was emergency, after all. He must escape from this place as soon as possible. Then, perhaps, he would ask himself why this kind of thing happened to him later.

Suddenly, the gun rang as the bullets his shell again. They shot Mikey five times on his back. He remembered the first time he got shot on his shell when he was with Henry and Sam; it hurt like burning fire, and that was only one bullet. How could they find him up here he didn't know. It hurt so much that he screamed and fell to the white ground, unable to move for a second. That was enough time for the group of men to come and hold him to the ground. Someone kicked him on his shell and cursed angrily. Mikey inwardly grinned. He hoped the man's foot broke.

"Get him!"

"Don't kill him, James!"

"He won't. Look, we shot him and he just refuses to die. But what's the difference? We'll carry him back anyway! The meat will be still fresh."

"Don't we carry him in pieces? It's easier."

"Nah. Too messy. He's just a kid. Lightweight as shit."

"Damn. That means not enough meats."

"Fuck! How can he survive the shots? He should've been dead by now!"

"Oh my god." One man took off his hood that covered his bald head. "What _is_ this? Is he _that_ freak in the town?"

Mikey gasped as he tried to breath. Four men were putting their weights down on his arm, legs, and his shell to make sure he couldn't move. His shell still hurt. Pretty sure he had a real permanent dent on his shell by now. These men were crushing his lungs, but he trashed his body as much as he could to get free.

"Let me go! You can't do this to me! Just let me go!" Mikey shouted. Some men looked at him astonishingly as if they didn't expect to see him talk. "You don't understand! I-I have to go back. He'll die if I don't go back to him!"

"Who? There's another freak like you?" The man named James sneered.

Mikey clamped his mouth shut. _Shell, shell, shell, I messed up again!_

"Heh, antibiotic isn't for yourself, right?"

Mikey growled at James. He had enough. Mikey was angry and hurt. He felt betrayed too as he looked at David in front of him, holding a rifle with a blank expression. Mikey poured all emotions and turned them into his strength.

"LET ME GO!"

"Damnit! Just hold him!"

"That's what I'm doing! Are you kidding me? Is he really a kid? Like I'm holding an elephant!"

"I SAID LET ME GO!"

"You're making a lot of trouble, Michelangelo."

Warm voice seeped with venom, he wiped his head to the man and glared at him.

"Don't say my name, you mustache sadist! You tricked me!"

"There's a reason, kid. I'm sure you'll understand." David said with patience like he was explaining thing to a child. "I didn't believe their story until I saw _you_. I just want to make sure it's _really_ you."

"Agh! My nose!" One of their men got hit when Mikey could move his arm and broke the man's nose with his elbow. He could do this. He could get free and come back later to kick their asses. He shouted again.

"LET GO!"

David sighed, walking toward him. "Time to put you to sleep..."

Mikey widened his eyes.

"Wait! No no no just let me go you can't do this he needs me-!"

 _Whack!_


	21. Winter: Chapter 21

**Warning: ** Disturbing thought and image ahead.

 **Author's note:** I realize just pasting the warning is enough. No need to clarify which chapter is M rating. Anyway… THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR COMMENTS! Thank you everyone! And I mean, every single comment from you all! (Omg I went to Moscow once and it's super cold and everyone looked cold but they helped me to go to red square so I'm happy to see Russian comment. Is it weird? No, it's not as long as I'm happy! And I learn a bit of Spanish so… ahem, okay I'll save it to reply back to you lol;;;;). I feel a bit better and life must go on so time to get back on the track...

Off topic, E3 2017 brought a lot of promising game. I don't like horror movie or novel, but I start to like horror game since they canceled Silent P.T. I grow up seeing this series but never played it so I thought now I'm not a little kid I should give it a try lol. But… I can't T_T. So, Evil Within 2, I'm waiting for you. It's more psychopath and less ghost so I'm okay lol. I also discovered Brothers: A Tales of Two sons a few days ago and as much as I want to write the ending like this game, I couldn't because it'll be too cruel for you and for myself. I CRIED IT'S SO SAD T_T. Probably save the plot for next fic...

Er… sorry… I know not a lot of people here play games, so let the story begins!

* * *

 _"-barged through the door without even knocking. He must be so frustrated-"_

 _"Huh?"_

 _Leo blinked. Once, and then blinked again as if he didn't believe what he was seeing in front of him. Raph, in person and alive as much as he remembered, arms crossed and looked annoyed at everything like his usual self. Leo blinked again and the visual didn't falter. Raph was here, staring when he was quiet for too long._

 _"You all right?" That voice, that gravelly voice he missed for months. He was hearing it again. Raph was here. He was really here, was he? "Are you even listening to me?"_

 _"Yes, go on." He heard himself answer. His mind was trying to make sense of this situation. He was back in the lair, on earth, not some abandoned building full of Kraang zombies, but how?_

 _If he was here, then where's Mikey? He had to- He needed-_

 _"Anyway, that nutcase invited himself into my room and asked me how to use this stupid pair of sticks. It's just two wooden sticks! Just make them stay on your hand! I mean he's usually good with stuff in the kitchen but how come he still can't use them? So I told him to get out and don't bother me again but he insisted on staying and asked me again. I almost punched him 'cause if it's some kind of joke it's not funny, but he looked like he was emm… sincere about it."_

 _He always remembered Raph being soft every time Mikey pleaded him like a normal little brother. No pranks, just need some help. And Raph always helped him eventually because deep down he was nice big brother. But what were they talking about? Leo thought this conversation happened before but he couldn't recall it. His mind was playing a trick with him. He looked down and saw uchiko ball, a small bottle of choji oil, and nuguigami. These were in his private katana cleaning box. Right, so he was cleaning his katana while talking to Raph._

 _"How hard it is to keep two sticks between your fingers? We're practicing how to use chopsticks for two hours straight and he still can't do it! Well, I tried, but it's no good 'cause somehow he needs four fingers to make them stay. And it's impossible for us. So I kicked him out to go to Donnie but he told me Donnie gave him a training chopsticks for practice before. You know, wooden sticks with rubber bands. And I was like, problem solved! Now shoo! But he can't use them properly 'cause rubber bands are too narrow and his thick finger can't go through." Raph huffed, taking a break after he told the story. It was far from finished, he knew, because Raph was still leaning on his door and mumbled about how stupid his little brother was._

 _Then Leo felt an urge to say 'of course our finger couldn't even go through the trigger guard,' and he blinked, wondering where that thought came from._

 _"So Donnie took them back to fix. That's why Mikey came to me. He whined about being the only one who still uses a spoon on the table and everyone will make fun of him," Raph grinned for the first time. "Yeah, of course, definitely."_

 _"Why doesn't he go to Master Splinter? He's the one who teaches us in the first place." His calm response was too calm for his liking because he still couldn't figure out why he was back in the lair and talked about not so important thing like chopsticks. He had to find Mikey. Now!_

 _"Oh, I don't know, Fearless. He probably wants to ask someone who has three fingers like him." Raph said smugly, grinning at him. "So tell me, how can you turn him down 'cause he's annoying as hell. When did you become a worse teacher than me? With you, he should be the master of pinching stuff now."_

 _That was when Leo looked up at him. He couldn't control his body. At all. Everything flew with a memory._

 _"He didn't come to me."_

 _"What?"_

 _"He didn't come to me," Leo repeated with a flat voice, emotionless. But his mind was racing and he tried to get control over his body, but he couldn't. "I think he only asked you and Donnie."_

 _Raph stared at him for a long time before he snapped. "That little rascal! So he's just messing with me and not with you!? This is a joke again!? All right, that's it!"_

 _Before Raph stomped off, Leo spoke again, turning back to his cleaning tools. Oh what was so important about it when his brother needed him- "Don't mad at him, Raph. Maybe he really needs your help, not mine."_

 _"What the fuck are you sayin'? I can't help him. I'm not there."_

 _Leo flinched. Because he remembered Raph didn't say this. Yes, when they were seven years old Master Splinter taught them to use chopsticks, traditional ancient eating utensils that Raph would rather not use it because he thought they were outdated. Then it turned into a challenge since the first one who could use them would be the best ninja, although Master Splinter said using them didn't mean you become a ninja but they didn't care much. It was a challenge between siblings. Leo was the first turtle who could use them skillfully, following by Raph (who didn't want to lose) and Donnie (who spent too much time wondering how they work). But he didn't know Mikey couldn't use them yet. He didn't notice. When he got up, Raph was out of his sight. Leo sighed and went to the kitchen in case he needed to stop Raph from killing little brother._

 _'But this is not real. It already happened in the past.' Leo tried to tell his body to listen to him, but it was like he was inside somebody's mind, watching everything through the stranger's eyes. 'It is not real. It's just my memory…'_

 _The dim light in the kitchen revealing the edge of the island. Leo was confused to see Mikey alone at the end of it, hiding in the shadows. the fifteen-year-old Mikey wasn't looking at him. He was busy scratching something on the island. He tried to focus to see what it was._

 _And he gasped because Raph's body was lying on the island, his eyes were blank, mouth slightly open with a trail of blood at the corner. His head was cracked open and oh god he didn't want to know what color of their brain matter. And his body, cut open, his entrails was slowly falling to the floor with a sickeningly sound. His foot caught with cold liquid, god it was cold because he was dead dead dead for a long time and there was so much blood on the floor but nobody cared why why why because this wasn't in his memory before and Raph was not dead he was safe at home, right? He was just talking to him a minute ago, he was fine. Who killed him? Leo wanted to scream, to dash to him and oh god maybe he could-do something to ease his pain, to-_

 _Then he heard a noise. Mikey poked Raph's head with a spoon in his hand. For the first time since Leo came into the kitchen, he noticed his little brother was all right. He didn't get hurt or anything, but when Leo reached his face he saw that his pupils that should have been clear blue like sky were gone. His eyes were dark, no, black, like he was looking at two small black holes, like he was possessed. Mikey blinked once. His eyes were still pit black. He bit the tip of the spoon like he usually did when he was nervous. Leo met his eyes and he actually heard Mikey soft voice._

 _"...I'm hungry."_

 _Despite the gruesome scene in front of him, Mikey acted as if there was nothing wrong. His gloomy black eyes stared at him, begging for something he couldn't give. Leo studied the expression on his sweet little face, trying to see into his eyes and realized that they were pleading. Leo wanted to ask him what he did but his body wasn't his own. Leo moved the chair and sat down. The blood coated the island, dripping on his lap. His mind tried not to think about it. But why he had to sit calmly, unconcerned about Raph was lying dead not so far from him. Oh god, he wanted to scream-_

 _"Is it weird?" Mikey suddenly asked, breaking the silence._

 _"What's weird?" He asked back. Didn't know why because he already knew the answer. Everything. Every single thing in this room made him sick. He wanted to puke, but his body didn't allow to. And his voice, damn, he hated himself. His younger brother was dead in front of him and he sounded too calm, too peaceful. He should grab Mikey and slammed him into the wall, asking about what the hell was happening._

 _"You know I'm infected but you still want me to come home," Mikey spoke through the deafening silence. "You'll endanger their lives. Everybody will get infected."_

 _It took some time to register what his little brother said. He felt his own emotion bottle inside this stranger's body, unable to release. So Mikey already turned into… that thing? No, no, no, no way he couldn't-_

 _"I won't allow it." was Leo's calm response. His eyes fixed on the red liquid dripping from Raph's stomach._

 _Mikey's bright smile was so opposite to Leo's serious expression._

 _"Do you have a choice? You bring a zombie back home and think it'll be fine?"_

 _Leo curled his fists. His lap was already soaked by blood. No, Mikey was immune, he was sure. Mikey didn't turn, he couldn't. It had been months since he was bitten so he couldn't turn. But, maybe he was the host. Zombie disease was still in his body…_

 _Mikey snorted, leaning back in his chair casually when Leo didn't reply. "You're so selfish, Leo. Everything is about you and only you."_

 _"No..."_

 _"You just can't let me go because our father will be disappointed."_

 _"That's not it," Leo said, still not meeting his little brother's eyes. "I won't give up on you. Donnie can help you."_

 _"No, no one can help me. Raph can't even help me with stupid chopsticks." Mikey pouted, dropping the spoon on the island. He glared at the corpse as if to blame Raph. "No one can heal a zombie. You have to accept the truth."_

 _Leo began to wonder what the hell was happening again. Raph died. Mikey didn't care. He himself also didn't care despite the fact that his mind was literally screaming at his own body to move. He couldn't control himself at all._

 _But then his curiosity slipped through the barrier, Leo tilted his head slightly._

 _"Why didn't you come to me? About chopsticks."_

 _He got an unexpected reaction from Mikey because no sane man would feel guilty about the chopsticks over killing your own brother. Mikey flinched, averting his eyes, hands fidgeting._

 _"I'm sorry…"_

 _Big brother's instinct kicked in, Leo shook his head lightly. "I'm not mad, Mikey. I just want to know why."_

 _Mikey's voice was quiet, timid, like he was afraid he would get chastisement for explaining his reason. "I-er… I saw you praise Raph."_

 _A surprise crossed his face because he thought that Mikey was close to Raph so he preferred the red-banded turtle than him. He remembered that day. Raph was in a good mood and Leo gave him a pat on his shoulder. 'Jealous…? No, that's not it.'_

 _Mikey spoke so fast as if he stopped he would never have a chance to tell him again. "Then Donnie figured it out and join your squad. You were standing outside the dojo and I saw you talk and laugh with them. I saw you play with your chopsticks and I thought they're perfect because all of you could use them within a day after father taught us while I… I..."_

 _Then Mikey shrugged nonchalantly as if to brush off his question. "So I went to ask D first, then Raph. And D fixed a training pair so I practiced for two days. That's all. We're now can use them so it's not a problem anymore."_

 _Leo waited patiently, knowing it was not the real answer. When Mikey met his eyes again, he repeated. "Why didn't you ask me for help?"_

 _This time Mikey was stuttering, shaking his head defensively. "I-... I don't- It's-"_

 _Somehow Mikey didn't have to say it. Leo earned the answer beyond those two black holes on his head._

 _His little brother didn't want to see a disappointment from him._

 _He was at a loss for words, knowing his little brother expect that kind of reaction from him. Arguably, it wasn't like he did every time Mikey fail to learn a new thing. He knew Mikey was the fast learner when he actually focused so he didn't judge him too harshly, but seeing him praising Raph and Donnie made his little brother feel a little bit left out. Oh no. How long has this been going on?_

 _"I said I won't give up on you, and I mean everything about you. I can help." Leo said with a quaking voice. it was all he could do even though he wanted to pound the island to stop this madness._

 _Suddenly his vision flickered for a moment like he was watching TV with bad signal. When he blinked, Mikey was back to his unusual cocky attitude. His grin was wider and wider. "Of course, you can try, but you'll fail. And you'll not only lose me; you'll lose everyone else when you bring me home. Do you really want that?"_

 _"I won't leave you," Leo whispered._

 _Mikey folded his hands. If it was another situation, Leo would think he was trying to be serious. "It's the only option left, bro. You should be happy that it was me not you."_

 _"You're wrong," Leo wanted to scream, but all he could do was reply calmly. "If I could, I would trade my place with you."_

 _"Li~ar~." Oh god he wanted to punch him for making high pitch voice like that._

 _"It's true."_

 _"You're so selfish that you don't allow me to die."_

 _Like a stab to his heart, this time it was him who stuttered. 'Don't say that, stop...' "I-I'm not..."_

 _Mikey took a chance to give him a silly grin that stretched from ear to ear. "You just want to be a good guy. Just tell me you really don't want to be a zombie. Tell me you're happy that it's me, your useless brother- "_

 _Something inside him snapped, then his long awaiting emotion exploded. He pounded the island so hard his fists almost splitting the surface._

 _" **No!** " 'You're good enough enough enough I told you and I'll tell you a million times until you believe it.' Leo looked at him intensely. Was the person opposite to him was really Michelangelo? Because this Mikey said like he could read his mind. Leo drew a breath, looking at his supposed-to-be little brother. Real one or not, he didn't have a reason to lie to him._

 _"I-I'd admit I'm scared, and I can't imagine the pain you've got when you know you're infected. But even if I'm scared, I won't allow you to walk on this path alone."_

 _He felt as if his heart popped out of his chest then he lost all control of his body again. He fell back to the chair, panting like he ran a thousand miles. Why did he feel so tired just for a simple action? But it was worth it, because even if Mikey's eyes were pitch-black he could see a light, symbol of hope in them._

 _"Really?" Mikey's voice was small and timid. "You promise?"_

 _"I swear."_

 _Then Mikey began to smile again, this time without cockiness. He was back to his usual self. They stared at each other for a long time until Mikey chuckled. "And this comes from the person who sleeps all day."_

 _"Huh?"_

 _"Wake up, bro. If you still want to go home with me then wake up before you can't."_

 _"Huh...?" Leo felt lightheaded so suddenly. Mikey left the spoon in Raph's cracked skull and walked to him, unconcerned about the blood pool on the floor. Leo turned to see his hands and body and the vision crashed in. He was covered in Raph's blood from head to toe. His immediate brother-still dead in front of him-he tried to get to him but Mikey shoved him back to the chair and straddled his lap, conveniently blocking Raph from his sight. His little brother laughed and cupped his cheeks,_ _licking his own lips_ _._

 _'Tasukete…'_

 _He heard an overlapping voice in his head. Someone was calling. But when their eyes met, those big, round black holes sucked all the protests he would have made._

 _"I'm hungry, Leo… please."_

 _'Tasukete…'_

 _"Please..."_

 _He heard it again. It was Mikey's._

 _'Tasukete…'_

 _And he let his little brother lean closer, too close for comfort..._

* * *

Leo jointed awake as he came to his sense. His vision blurred for a moment as he blinked several times. It was dark and quiet and he was disoriented. He blinked again, trying to catch some noise but he didn't hear anything except his own breath. Too quiet. He turned his head and found a dim white light near his head. It was his T-phone. he tried to lift his hand to reach for it but the sudden sharp pain rushed over his right side, unpleasant reminder of what happened to him. Leo lied still and gasped for breath, too weak to move again. Summoning all his strength, he tried again slowly. Once the screen brightened up, he saw the gray cold ceiling greeted him silently. He shook his head a bit to cast the dizziness away.

Something was wrong. It was too quiet. It should have been his brother who greeted him when he woke up.

He tried to get up slowly, gritting his teeth every time the flash of sharp pain comes. Maybe Mikey was sleeping, too exhausted to stay awake. His hand reached clumsily on the freezing floor to find his brother and almost flinched when he knocked the papers over. He gripped T-phone and examined them. It was the pink colored paper with the fade illustration on the back. The crayons were rolling nearby. He grabbed the first paper on the top and saw familiar large handwriting.

 _'Okay this is my fourth attempt. Hi Leo! If you're awake there are dried berries in the can on your right. I know, I know, we're all sick of berries but I'll find some meat for you soon. You need it! And, umm, we're in the basement. There's no one here, I checked, so we can stay for a while until you get better. I write this letter in the morning because I have to hunt for food so don't worry I'll be back before dark! And, umm, I borrow your katana. Just one! I hope you don't mind. Miss you, bro.'_

Leo blinked before turning to see the dried berry can, half full water bottle, and one of his katana. Seeing his own weapon made his heart warm a bit, at least he felt safe. He flipped the paper to see if Mikey leaves another message, but he only found a dull Christmas tree on the back. This paper was probably a letter paper with random illustration on the back.

His eyes caught the same writing on the papers on the floor, Frowning, he lowered T-phone and the bright screen showed that Mikey wrote so many 'letters' for him. Leo rubbed his forehead and exhaled. Maybe he was out for a few days that Mikey left a pile of letters for him. But as he was reading, he learned that Mikey just wrote all of them today.

The second paper said, _'Okay I write a new one since the first one didn't make sense… I keep some dried berries for you on the right. It tastes worse than yesterday but that's all we have left. I'll find more food. But it's so cold… there's nothing here… But hey I'll be back soon.'_

His heart ached as he was reading. It seemed that Mikey, his typical enthusiastic brother, was lonely. The back of this paper was the painting of red leaves and sunbeam on a bridge.

 _'I'm sorry I don't want to leave you alone but my stomach asks me to go out umm I'll stop here 'cause this letter sounds pathetic...'_

The more he picked the papers, the more he could see his little brother suffering alone, trying to stitch his wound. Some papers were written only two or three words before crossed out like Mikey couldn't make up his mind what he should write.

 _'I don't like needle but I have to stop the bleeding hope you don't feel hurt much. It's so cold so I brought blankets for you. Please wake up.'_

Leo shut his eyes for a moment, his hand shook slightly and not because of the cold. He was awake but his little brother didn't know yet. Where was he? He picked the next paper and found the large words filling the whole paper.

 _'Wake up. I can't take it anymore.'_

and then there was nothing.

That was Mikey's first 'letter', and the last one that Leo read. He found the illustration on the back was a boy sleeping under the yellow stars as if Mikey purposely chose this paper for him. There was no more letter for him. the rest of papers were blank. He knew that if he was still out for a few days he probably got a ton of letters coming, but somehow he wanted to read them. He wanted to read about his little brother more. He clenched it as if he was holding his dear life. Leo could see the pale fog of his own breath as he had to get up. He had to. He gripped tightly on the hilt of his remained katana and tried to stand. Swaying a bit, he put his hand on the wall, ignoring the stab of pain shot up from his side. There was still a blood on his wound, and whenever he saw it on his palm he saw the vision of Raph's blood coating his own hand. He had to find Mikey before he lost his mind.

 _That was just a nightmare. It's not real..._

The stairs were killing him and he probably spent an hour just to crawl upstairs. It was already dark outside. the wind blew through the broken window.

 _'don't worry I'll be back before dark!'_

Leo was gasping for breath, leaning heavily on the door frame. It was snowing he couldn't see anything even if he got the light from T-phone. Then he saw a bright orange light painting the sky. Something big was burning, probably the house because of a big pile of smoke. Something in the back of his mind told him that his little brother was in trouble. The Kraang might follow them and tried to capture them, no, bite them again. Even if it wasn't the Kraang, Mikey was out and not coming back yet, and he bet it had something to do with that fire. Leo held T-phone in one hand, the katana in another. It was like a suicide mission, wandering in the middle of the snow and the only guide he had was the burning house from the distance. But Mikey was out there, and he wouldn't leave him.

 _'Tasukete…'_

Slowly and carefully, Leo took the first step on the snow.

* * *

 **Note:** Tasukete = Help


	22. Winter: Chapter 22

**Warning:** More disturbing thoughts and image of cannibalism.

 **Author's note:** I'm very sorry for delay. I'll admit I have a bit writer's block, I was busy with my jobs (gotta fly to the south every week now), and I'm stuck in Transformers: Fall of Cybertron because since we can't have a good movie about Transformers we might as well get the best Transformers game… Anyway, it's the first anniversary of this fan fiction so here I am! Wow I've written for a long time. Even if I can no longer stick to monthly update, I'll finish this fanfiction. I'll try...

For some reason, Youtube suggests 'Starset - Let It Die' for me while I was listening to Linkin Park so I decided to try it. Well, don't listen to it if you're depressed. I think it's current theme song for Leo lol. Poor Leo…

For Last of Us fan, this part will be different from the game because if I follow the story in the game it'd be very creepy… so I change it a bit. Hope you like it.

Some conversations are from the Last of Us script. Nunchucks references are from google search and Nunchaku boards.

* * *

 _A few hours earlier…_

Mikey felt like Raph mopped the floor with his face except Raph usually did it metaphorically because cleaning the floor with his face might not be so effective. That, and Leo wouldn't allow it. But they weren't in the lair, and Raph wasn't here. So why he felt rough, cold floor rubbing his cheek?

He also heard a faint _thud_ sound came in a steady rhythm. It didn't sound like machine or Kraang droids, so maybe he was safe. But he needed to see if he was _really_ in the safe place. Mikey wanted to rub his eyes but his hands and legs were locked, he couldn't move. That was the first warning sign. Mikey let out a small groan and shifted his body, but he found he couldn't change his position. Second warning sign. He tried to blink but his eyelids felt like stones. At least he came close to be awake. He could hear a constant rhythm of _thud_ sound clearly now. Maybe he was in the kitchen, in the lair, and someone was cooking. Wait. Someone was _cooking_?

 _It can't be the lair,_ he thought, _my home doesn't have this slimy, foul-smelling kitchen._

Slowly, Mikey opened his eyes and regretted the moment the light hit him. He blinked a few times to adjust and found a figure standing behind the cell bars, working with something on the table. Mikey blinked again and his vision became clearer. A human was chopping something off and slid the piece to the bucket below. Another _thud_ sound and the piece of weird meat that looked like pale crab pincers fell off the table. Except it couldn't be a crab. Mikey tilted his head to see the bucket and suddenly he was shocked at what was inside.

A pile of hands, each with five cold fingers, blood frozen or drained out he couldn't tell, cutting off from the lifeless form above.

Mikey gasped and instinctively shifted backward, making a chain that tied his hands and legs on his shell rattled. Then he realized he was lying on his plastron like when Bradford captured him, unable to move. Widened his eyes, he tried to get out of the confinement but far from success. He also felt very, very naked, in turtle term of course. Naked enough in this apocalypse dimension since those hunters who captured him only bothered to remove his cloak, nunchucks, and his borrowed katana like they weren't sure which part was his own body.

 _This isn't kitchen. This is meat locker!_

 _But why why why why…_

 _This doesn't make any sense! Why the human chopping up a corpse?_

The said human turned around when he heard a sound coming from the cell. The familiar, disgusting face that made his stomach churned.

Mikey regretted every moment he trusted this adult before.

The deceptive smile placed on David's face. "You're awake." The man walked to the second table and appeared with a dinner tray. He kneeled to talk to him. At least he had some manners. "How are you feeling?"

Mikey just glared at him.

David chuckled. "Now you turn into animal? Can't talk, huh?"

If Mikey could glare harder, he would. He didn't like his new nickname at all. He and his brothers, family, were far from a wild animal. Donnie tried to explain to him something about sentient being a long time ago but gave up when he was too busy playing old PS2.

The man pushed the tray closer to his face (which was half-planting on the floor thanks to the courtesy of the restraint), encouraging him to eat, but Mikey felt like he was trying to feed the wild beast. Like David wasn't sure how to treat him. Human? Wild thing? Alien? Giant turtle?

People were like this when they saw something they didn't understand.

"Here. You should eat. I know you're hungry - been out for quite some time."

He didn't know why David was kind to him again after he hit him at the back of his head and took him prisoner (it must be the prisoner otherwise it'd be very, _very_ creepy!). Maybe it was an act, to make his guard down and hurt him again. Mikey learned his lesson and wouldn't repeat the same mistake.

"What is it?" Mikey asked, keeping his voice steady.

"It's deer."

"..."

The silence made David laughed as he could guess what was on his mind. "I promise. It's...just the deer meat."

 _Keep it for yourself. I don't care._ "..."

Mikey glanced at the decreased on the table. Must be kept under cold temperature for a long time. Not wanting to focus on the carcass, his gaze was back on David. How desperate of this human to eat their own kind he wouldn't know, but he knew this was wrong, _seriously_ wrong.

"Ah, perhaps turtles eat only vegetables?" David assumed when he didn't reply. He shook his head apologetically. "I'm sorry, Michelangelo. We're short on 'em. It's really hard to find during the winter."

 _Oh yeah? At least I'm not hungry enough to eat my kind._ He was sick of David referring him as a wild stray, monster, so he scowled at him.

"You're animal here, not me."

David kept his smile plastered on his face. "Oh...you're awfully quick to judgment. Considering you and your friend killed how many men?"

Mikey wasn't back down at the accusation. He remembered quite well what the hunters did to innocent 'tourist' family in the city. "You did bad things. And they didn't give us a choice."

"And you think we have a choice? Is that it?" David's voice was calm like he was trying to explain to little kid. Mikey didn't like it at all; it made him feel inferior. "You kill to survive...and so do we. We have to take care of our own. By any means necessary."

"So you're gonna survive another day by chopping me up into tiny pieces?"

This time David didn't respond right away, he seemed to ponder the question, carefully choosing his words. "Some are interested in you. You're, ah, _special_ , as we can see. We all never see a deer that can talk. Some say those spores turned human into a turtle. Freak of nature." Then he turned to Mikey, meeting his eyes. "And some say you're a murderer, just like us. Only you hold the answer."

Donnie said they were the sentient being, and he would stick with that. He gathered his confidence and shot back. "I'm not entirely human but I'm still human. And I'm not your food."

 _If you eat me, I hope you'll choke on mutagen._

David's laugh echoed through the cold room. "You're scared, Michelangelo?"

 _Very_. "No."

This man terrified him. How could he believe this man was the good guy when he first met? When he watched horror movie he would ask why they did those awful things to others. Raph would ignore him, but Donnie would explain to him that sometimes people didn't know that they were sick in their head.

Those who wore a good-natured mark were always the meanest.

David studied him for a long time. "I see...You're just a kid, after all."

Mikey understood why he hated the word 'kid' because it made him small and helpless. David probably saw him like that. He decided not to talk to this sick man and glared dagger at him. David chuckled as he stood. "First, it's just a revenge. Now? Have no clue. We can't afford a pet, but I'll see if I can convince the others."

 _Convince? Convince about what?_

"Rest, little one. We'll decide what to do with you later."

The tray on the floor was left cold, far from his reach. David thought he would use mouth to eat only just like wild animal so he didn't release him.

Mikey scowled again.

* * *

 _Nunchucks placed neatly in front of him. Mikey kneeled and folded his hands on his lap, trying to sit still as much as possible because he knew this was important for them, ninja newbie as their father would call. Master Splinter was going to have a private lesson to teach them how to wield their own weapon properly. He didn't know if it was merely a coincidence after he accidentally cut his arm with Leo's sword. Did he know that he tried the katana without his permission? Was it some kind of punishment? Splinter was pacing in front of him and obviously catching a glimpse of his discomfort. Deciding not to torture his son further, he finally sat down and broke the silence._

 _"Perhaps you are interested in katana?"_

 _"Huh?" Mikey unconsciously scratched in the band-aid on his forearm. Realizing he couldn't give a proper answer, apologize was the best option. "Umm… I'm sorry…"_

 _Master Splinter nodded, acknowledging. He spoke again but too unkindly. "I did not ask you to come here to chide you, my son. I understand your curiosity, but Leonardo shouldn't let you try them in the first place."_

 _Mikey flinched. 'No! Don't blame him. It's my fault!' but his mouth remained shut. Too coward to take the blame, so he kept his gaze on the floor, counting the loose threads of the carpet._

 _Splinter quirked his brow, his notorious son was being unnaturally quiet. So he asked again, this time he added an offer. "Tell me, Are you still interested in katana? If you are, I can teach you."_

 _Mikey looked at him with surprise and shook his head rapidly. "No! I like my nunchucks… I just… well, umm, as you say, curious."_

 _"If you say so," Master Splinter contemplated for a moment before he took the nunchucks on his lap. Mikey looked at him, wondering what he would do. Splinter smiled as his purpose may be totally different from what Mikey had thought. He really meant it when he told his son that he wasn't in any trouble. in fact, he wanted to teach a new lesson that might be useful in the future, and fulfilled his young, immersed curiosity. "It is also a perfect timing for you to learn what they can do. When you understand them, it will become a deadly weapon as it is no less dangerous than katana."_

 _"Huh? But I thought nunchucks can't cut anything in half." Mikey said. Splinter noticed a small hint of interest in his voice. If his sons knew what their weapon could truly do, perhaps it would take them to focus on their own weapon, as he had hoped._

 _"It does not, until you switch it into Kusarigama." As he spoke, his hands moved quickly as nunchucks transformed into a sickle with long chains. Mikey gasped excitedly. However, Splinter didn't let him touch it. "It is not the time for you to use it, soon, I presume, but not now." Then he folded it back into nunchucks._

 _"My weapon can transform!? Oooh this is awesome!"_

 _Splinter chuckled. "Only this nunchucks can. I customized it by myself when I was human."_

 _"Can I try it? Can I try it? Can I try it?"_

 _Splinter glanced at his band-aid on his arm and sighed. Mikey and the sharp object did not bode well. "Not yet."_

 _He then stood up and placed the nunchucks back on the wall and took a training nunchucks from the rack, much to Mikey's disappointment._

 _Splinter started his lesson smoothly. "You must know that wielding them means you have developed quick hand movements. Since it can be whirled around, having good reflex is necessary. it is not easy to be the master of nunchucks."_

 _"I can do that, sensei!" Mikey accepted the training nunchucks as he said eagerly like he couldn't wait to use the sickle-shaped weapon. the anxiousness from the beginning was long forgotten._

 _"I have no doubt of your outstanding ability, Michelangelo. I believe it is only a matter of time before you master it."_

 _Master Splinter knew his son's potential and what he could become. He was somehow impressed and at the same time worried that Mikey learned very fast, quickly following the difficult movement as he spinning his nunchucks._

 _"May I ask why is it your weapon of choice?"_

 _"Because I like it!" Mikey answered without missing a beat._

 _"Ah, then you must know how to use it properly in case you're practicing it with your brothers. Come here." Splinter gestured him to come close and Mikey obediently followed, standing in fighting stance._

 _"I'll be careful, sensei. I won't hit them hard, well, if Raph doesn't do it first." Mikey mumbled the last part._

 _Splinter corrected his pose, nodding. "I know you don't want to injure your brothers, but you need to know that any kind of weapon is unsafe to wield around without learning what it can do."_

 _Then he began at the basic, his index finger pointing at the handle. Mikey tilted his head as he was listening. His son was really like nunchucks because he wouldn't stand still and listen like this if he wasn't into it, so Splinter repaid him with a smile and continued his lesson. "The hardened handles are used for blunt force. as well as wrapping its chain around an attacking weapon to immobilize or disarm an opponent."_

 _"You mean I can take out their weapon with my nunchucks?"_

 _"Yes, my son."_

 _Mikey punched the air excitedly, forgetting his pose. "Woohoo! This is great!"_

 _"To do so, you need the speed and correct posture." Splinter kindly fixed his pose again, then he grabbed Mikey's hand and swung the nunchucks. "Nunchucks can damage limbs, but it is not exactly a fast precision weapon. It takes a short amount of time for recovery after each strike."_

 _Splinter let his son feel the momentum of the handle that swung back and forth, knowing Mikey learned better with demonstration than words, then he moved to stand in front of his son. "With multiple opponents, you have to use a lot of mobility to keep on top of any number over two, otherwise it will quickly become a difficult fight."_

 _"So they'll gang up on me again..." Mikey mumbled unhappily which made Splinter chuckled._

 _"It is for training, Michelangelo. And you know you have no problem to defeat them as you are faster than everyone."_

 _Splinter knew the best way to boost his son's confidence as Mikey's pout turned into a grin. "Yeah! You're right. I'm the best!"_

 _His lesson went on as he showed his son the basic movement, Mikey's body shifted to imitate him quickly. Splinter was impressed. He showed more advanced moves, attacking the invincible enemy as he spoke. "The problem with hitting people to put them down without killing them is the fact that some of them will get back up."_

 _At the corner of his eyes, he saw that Mikey was stiffened at the word 'killing'. Splinter knew his sons, all of them, and he knew Mikey can be the great fighter, but not assassin which was sadly a part of ninja. Perhaps it was the lesson for another day, or never. Mikey would never be ready. He would likely to see killing as a last resort._

 _Seeing his son staring at him with wide eyes, Splinter continued his explanation with calm voice. "As far as weapons go, nunchucks are really low in the efficiency and effectiveness stakes, they're an ambush weapon, not an assassination weapon. Sometimes you can use them to potentially maim the opponent," or kill, if he really wanted to. But Splinter said no more on this matter as he turned to his son._

 _"The chains can block the katana, tangled the hands holding it, smashed their wrists with a second one then got out of the area. You must know that it is not a weapon for an extended fight."_

 _Mikey inspected his training nunchucks quietly and touched the metal chains that connected to two handles. Knowing his son was absorbing his words_

 _"Wow..." Mikey finally looked at him in awe. "I gotta hit fast and run fast."_

 _Splinter smiled at his youngest son. "I know you can do it."_

* * *

It had been a long time that he dreamed about Master Splinter and his first lesson of nunchucks (as much as he missed his father, he didn't like dojo that much…). He didn't know why. Maybe he really missed father, missed everyone, or maybe he just missed his nunchucks. Being unarmed in enemy territory left him vulnerable. His heart ached when he thought of Leo in the basement. Would someone find him? Would he recover? Would he… come? Mikey shook his head, knowing the answer. Leo was badly injured and didn't even gain consciousness. He was on his own, and he had to get back.

 _But how?_

Mikey was still tired from his attempt to get out of the chain. It wrapped his wrists tightly, he pulled until his wrists bled through. He could try to escape when David was back to collect his untouched food tray, but he didn't want to wait that long. This place, this group of hunters, everything was wrong with all of them. His eyes caught the movement from the door as humans stepped into the room.

The man named 'James' (if he remembered correctly) reached his cell first. "Wake-y, wake-y. Come on."

Mikey frowned at the new guy; he didn't want them to see him weak so he spat back. "So what's your decision? Am I your pet now?"

David followed James as he pulled out the key to open the door, His expression grim. "Your friend's gonna miss you."

"Huh?"

David tilted his head. "How did you put it? Hmm? Tiny pieces?"

 _What?_

Mikey's brain froze as he came to understanding of what about to happen. He just refused to believe because he was _different_ , and thought they would spare him. James came into the cell and pulled another key to unlock the chain on him. Mikey was still in shock and just sat there when he was released.

He was too naive.

James strapped his wrists and ankles to the slaughtering table. His shell scratched dried blood beneath. David held the same cleaver that chopped the dead human few hours ago and gave him somewhat sympathetic look, mumbled quietly. "I'll make the most out of you."

That was when he snapped.

"What? No, no, no , no! Let go! You can't! Stop!" He trashed around, managing to free his right arm. He bites David's hand when he draws near. James cursed and punched him in the face, putting his knee on his plastron to keep him down. David frowned at his hand, and suddenly the man slapped him hard, his fake kindness gone.

"I warned you."

"Just how desperate are you!?" Mikey choked. It was difficult to breath when James sitting on him, not to mention that his nose was bleeding.

"I told you, it's really cruel winter for us. We have to scavenge everything we can." David said indifferently as he raised his cleaver. He was going to chop his arm off just like he did with the previous corpse, his right arm that had bandage on.

 _Wait..._

The light bulb in his head suddenly turned on. One thing he was good at was pulling a prank on someone, _everyone_ if he really wanted to. He could do this. Raph fell for his tricks many times. He had practiced this skill for a very long time and he knew he was the best. This was the perfect timing to prove that the prank could save his life.

 _Just need a small courage and don't let fear cover your chance. You can do it. Turtle style!_ Mikey thought, taking a second to shout at the man's face.

"Don't! I'm infected!"

It worked, partially. James's hand stopped in mid-air, but David just laughed. "Really? Turtle learns a new trick? I think we have a conclusion that you're just not entirely human."

Mikey gulped, his voice shaking. He just needed to be _very_ convincing to make them believe him, so he tried again, tilting his head to the bandage on his arm. "Right there. Under the bandage. Look at it."

James looked at David nervously. It seemed that this cannibal camp had some rules, one of it was not to eat infecteds as they weren't sure the zombie disease could spread by consuming. David glanced at him briefly before muttered under his breath, quickly tore the bandage. There. They saw it. The old bite scar was healing but they could see the shape of teeth clearly, then they grew quiet.

The bite mark that Mikey hated so much was going to save his life.

For the first time since he was captured, Mikey felt like he had a plan. His voice was low with a hint of smugness.

"What'd you say? Everything happens for a reason, right?"

James looked at him like he grew another head, then he turned to David. "What the hell is that?"

David was frowning. It would take more than a single scar to shake his composure. The man kept calm and simply replied. "He would've turned by now. It can't be real."

"Looks pretty fucking real to me!"

They were arguing. Good. His right arm was free, so Mikey took a split second to sucker-punch James, kick off the strap and roll off the table towards the doorway. They didn't have time to catch him. He was fast, he was free. Hit hard and ran fast like Master Splinter taught him.

Mikey ran through the hallway until he stumbled into the storage room. He spotted his gray cloak, the katana, and his nunchucks on a nearby cabinet. The bow and arrows were gone because unlike the katana and the nunchucks, they probably took them since there was normal weapon they are familiar with. Mikey would be disadvantaged at long-ranged attack, he just hoped Kusarigama was enough. James shouted after him and fired a few rounds but missed. Lucky him. Grabbing his possessions, Mikey was ready to jump out of the window when James shouted again.

"Stop right there!"

He must admit James was fast. The man followed him with his gun aimed at his head, probably not missing again. Mikey started, bursting out before he could stop himself. His voice echoed a tiny hope, begging the adult to leave him alone.

"Just let me go, please."

But James spare no mercy, spitting the blood from his mouth. His eyes held no compassion or kindness for the kid like him. Mikey began to terrify of him, of human. Why couldn't they just let him go? They couldn't eat him anyway, he was infected. Couldn't he just, _go_? James unlocked the safety and ready to fire at him.

He was going to die.

"Fucker, you're one of those things."

"I'm not!" He clenched the handle of the nunchucks. It was now or never, James was going to fire any second and he had to act fast.

He leaped from the window, spinning his nunchucks and hit James' head in full force, not holding back like he usually did. At the same time, he felt the fire on his left arm. James hit his target right on.

Ignoring his wound, Mikey spun kick James' head and hit him with nunchucks again. He just had to hit until James couldn't get up. Yes, like Master Splinter told him, he had to hit the opponent until they couldn't get back up.

 _Hit! Just hit him!_

"Where're you going, Michelangelo? This is my town!"

Mikey wiped his head at the hallway, leaving James to fall to the ground, unmoving. He left him there and jumped out into the blizzard, his breath fogged in front of him. Once he hit the snow, he grimaced at the cold wind blowing his wound, the red trail formed on his left arm. He staggered through the wind, trying to get out of this place.

He didn't even look back to see whether James was dead or not.

Just like that bastard said, he didn't actually have a choice.


	23. Winter: Chapter 23

**Author's note:** I'm sorry for being absent far too long. Because I have full-time job now! Yes! I'm doing both full-time and part-time jobs! Graduated and got a job after struggling for years... So yeah, less free time... Thank you everyone (if there's any TT) who is still waiting! This is my late New Year gift!

(Thanks efarraiz TT I'll reply back soon!)

I saw TMNT apocalypse arc already. It's fantastic! Mainly because Raph is finally a main star and I like the idea of Waterworld+Mad Max+Logan combined together. Now on with my own apocalyptic fic...

David is the same David as in LoU, so he's creepy as usual. Some conversations are from LoU script.

* * *

The hunters who were guarding the area gathered in the middle of the town, looking around with a gun ready in their hands. They usually faced the unwanted visitor in this time of the year since any survivor would go as far as they could to find something to eat even if they knew they were crossing the dangerous borders. But David's group didn't mind. It was like their place was a trap for their prey since it wasn't too far from the main city. It was convenient to stay close because they could hunt for meats, any type of meats.

That also meant they would meet more infecteds too.

They took the risk, though. Even if they were a few in number but they usually didn't hunt alone. The hunters always went in a small group, trying to stay alive.

Although this may be the first time that the prey was biting them back.

David glanced at the female hunter who was waiting outside with arms crossed, grim expression. "What happened? We heard gunshot!"

David sighed, eventually they would know anyway. "It's Infected."

"What?"

The man behind him shouted. "That creature! It's infected and it got out!"

The female hunter frowned, then she turned to him. "This is bad, David."

He knew. A wild green demon ran around could bring the chaos to his town, a wild little turtle that he convinced the others to catch. He wouldn't let it destroy his town. David sighed. "Alright, I need you to round up everyone who isn't armed and get 'em to clear outta here. We're gonna find him," He paused, averting the eyes from the woman in front of him. "and we're gonna kill him."

That would satisfy them, at least.

She tensed involuntarily. "Oh my god. Then I'll take the kids to the shelter."

David nodded. "You do that."

When she ran off, another man came to ask him. "James?"

Ah. Yes, he had to answer that too. David shook his head. "Dead."

The man looked shocked for a moment, couldn't believe their friend was killed inside their home. He scowled. "Damn. We gotta kill it on first sight. That beast's too dangerous."

He would reject that idea, but not now, not when his people was shaking with fear. He could handle kids later. David nodded. The hunters began to hunt for this new infected.

* * *

When David was gone, the female hunter carried his order to move women and children to the safe place. Not everyone was pleased, though. Usually when they caught the prey, the whole group would know. But this time their prey wasn't normal. Worst, no one told them about it.

This was because they followed one man.

"Tired of this shit. He's crossed the line this time." The other lady muttered to her friend.

The female hunter nodded, completely agreed. "I've been saying this for months."

"Why did he take the beast here in the first place? Makes no sense." Her friend complained while taking her son out. They were very protective when it came to their kids. Not only because a few children were alive after the virus breakout, but they also heard an awful rumor about their leader from their children…

"We've indulged him enough. That creature killed our men and now it's infected. Why did he capture it in the first place?"

David, their leader, held too many secrets to himself. It was true that they hunted more food because of him, but some of them were frustrated by his insane demand like insisting them to keep the weird animal. They told him to get rid of it, but no, he didn't. they had to put up with his stubbornness. She sighed, tired or not, she had to help the others to hunt it down. Might as well try to find another group after winter ended. She glanced back, the last child ran out of their shelter which was the old restaurant in the middle of the town. All of children were ready to go to the new safe place.

"Let's clean this mess up...then we can have a town meeting. Put his leadership up to a vote."

Everybody murmured in agreement, so it wasn't only her who couldn't stand him.

* * *

All he could see was white.

Everything was covered in white. Mikey could hardly see the hunter in the middle of the blizzard unless they were right on his nose. He had to listen closely to their foot step instead. Sometimes a campfire made it easier to spot the hunter, but mostly he relied on his ninja sense.

 _Come on, Raph can hit me with eye close. If he can do it I can too._

The frigid atmosphere continued to freeze his entire body. His dirty cloak did little in protecting him from the wind; it was hanging uselessly on his shell. In his perfect state (usually with four pieces of pepperoni pizza), he could use any ninja skills to attack the enemy. But now he was tired, hurt, cold, hungry, and bleeding. It would be impossible for him to fight even a single man.

 _No, I still can. I just hit that James guy…_

 _Did he die?_

 _Who cares! He shot me!_

Mikey sighed. He pushed some pressure on the wound to stop the blood coming out trailing on the white ground. Some ninja he was, leaving a big red sign saying 'I'm here!'.

 _I just have to get out of here…_

 _But I don't know where I am…_

 _I have to find a way to get out. Leo told me to watch the stars._

 _The snow's falling pretty hard, and it's not night time. You can't see a single thing._

 _Then what should I do? I can't let them… them… to...chop me..._

His teeth chattering. This was ridiculous. The turtles shouldn't be in the cold weather. Soon he would need to get inside the house to get some warmth. Staying in the blizzard too long and he would turn into turtle-sicle.

Mikey shivered, but this time wasn't from the cold.

 _If I go inside, I don't know if they're waiting for me..._

 _After trying so hard, you're gonna be a coward now and kill yourself out here?_

 _No! Never! I'm not giving up!_

 _But you're afraid._

 _...yes._

 _Of them?_

…

 _Well?_

 _Kuwareru…_

 _No!?_

Mikey startled at his own thought. That word… he knew its meaning. Japanese was Master Splinter's native language and he taught all turtles they were little… No, not now, he needed to focus.

 _But why this word?_

He stumbled a little as his foot caught a branch under the snow. His body swayed and his left arm pressed into the wall. Mikey yelped, quickly push himself back to balance. The red from his blood was on the wall. His wound was still bleeding which was bad. He had to get inside-

"What if it bites someone?"

The man's voice in the house made him jumped. Mikey quickly crouched under the window, holding his breath and staying still as much as possible.

"Relax. It's not biting anybody." Another man said.

"I'm saying we could have a real situation here."

He saw the man with a gun shrugged. "We already have a situation and we're gonna take care of it. Now stay focused. Let's find it."

 _They're talking about me,_ Mikey thought, not sure if he was shaking from the cold or from the fear he couldn't understand. But one thing he knew was that he became a prey.

 _They're hunting me down!_

Breathing heavily, Mikey moved away from the building. He had to find the escape as fast as he could. His body was slowing down, yielding to the frosty wind. If he stayed outside, he would be frozen soon. But if he wasn't careful, he would run into them.

Two shadows appeared near the wall, so Mikey moved, away from the house and lost in the snow, hoping they wouldn't see the trail of blood.

…

...

 _Kuwareru…_

 _No, no, no, don't think about it! Think about something else! You gotta find the way out!_

The tall shadow appeared before him. Mikey blinked, then side-stepped behind the wall to see what it was. It was the gate made of two poles with a row of wooden paling. Did he really reach the exit? Was this the way out? Was this the right direction?

He stopped on the track when the voice came from the gate.

"This is pointless. I can't see a thing."

 _Oh great..._

"Just keep searching. If it comes through here, we gotta catch it."

"The kids already moved out of old mama restaurant so we should follow them. We should be guarding their shelter. We got an infected running around in the town and we're guarding the damn exit."

"Well, David's order." The man answered with a loud sigh.

"Who chose him again?"

"Look. This monster is deadly and we don't know where it's gonna turn up. Just keep your eyes and ears open."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

It wasn't as if he hadn't been chasing before. Back in New York, the enemy called Kraang hunted for him as well, and sometimes human (that refused to understand he was a hero, not monster). But this time, it was different…

It was different because he was alone.

Mikey was shivering again. They're everywhere. He couldn't go through the gate now. His hands were freezing, bet he couldn't' even take out a Kusarigama. He turned back, swaying a little. He was going to fall to sleep soon.

 _I can't blind running in the blizzard. Hunters are waiting everywhere I go. I'll find a place to hide, and then sneak out later._

 _Why can't them… leave me alone…?_

 _Gotta… go..._

* * *

He decided to find a place near the gate so he could go out after he recovered a bit. Turn out it wasn't easy task. More like he was stumbling around, trying to stay awake and finding a warm place to hide. Before he fell on his knees, he saw the light inside the old building. This time, he didn't hesitate to get in just to take a break from the whiteout. The light came from a half-melted candle; someone lit them and went out. He was lucky that this building was empty.

 _Huh._ Mikey blinked lazily, leaning on the wall since his legs couldn't support his weight. _It's good place for me… No human, no hunters…_

This place was warm and gave him a little strength back to his body. He was no longer bleeding (or maybe his wound was frozen…) which was a good thing. Staying here for a while would be nice, but he couldn't just stand around like this. He had to find a place to hide in case human came back. His eyes caught a sign of a faded red cross on the cupboard near the counter.

 _I can't find the hospital…_

 _Yes I really can't, but if i find a medicine..._

 _This will do…!_

He reached out, almost tore the door open with exciting and grabbed every bottle inside. Finally, after bad luck he got all day, fought infecteds, being abducted, almost got eaten! If he found medicine, Leo would be okay and he himself would be okay too. He would finally go back to their shelter and bring it back to help his big brother, then asked if Leo wanted earthworm pizza again because that would be only pizza he could make now. Well, perhaps not, if the blizzard didn't stop soon… BUT! Everything's gonna be okay… it's gonna be okay… then he sneezed.

Mikey wiped his nose, dizzy a bit. He blinked several times trying to read the bottle piling in his arms. He slapped his forehead when he saw some of them weren't writing in English. "Arghhhhh… I'm cold. My head hurts... can't think of anything… but gotta remember what Donnie said...Hmm… Antibiotics…?"

 _Which one? Which one?_

"Peni-Clari-what?" He shook it a bit. "It sounds like something explosive in Donnie's lab. How can I know which bottle is the right one?"

He carefully put them down to the floor and picked it up one by one. The sound of small glass bottles chattering echoed through the empty house. Mikey didn't care, though. He just had to grab the right one and get out of here.

But that was when he realized they were all empty.

The group was low on medicine to the point that they almost had none. And when they evacuated, they took all they have and discard the empty ones, or they didn't have any at the beginning.

Panic swelled within him.

"What? No, no, no, no, no, you gotta be kidding! David said he has it. He's gonna exchange it for my deer." He shook it, trying to open the bottle to see with his own eyes. "M-Maybe he keeps it somewhere else. I just have to- just hafto-"

He sneezed again. Hands slipped and broke one bottle on the floor. This time anger and more panic bubbled within him.

 _No, there's none._

 _There's no medicine since the beginning._

 _That's because..._

 _Lying lying lying human lied to me._

 _Why? Why did he lie to me? I-I-I trusted him before!_

 _I-I-I… Why?!_

 _All I've done… is for nothing…_

 _..._

 _... How...how could you!?_

His body was paralyzed with fear, frustrated, too much feeling ran through his mind. When Mikey couldn't take it anymore, he screamed.

* * *

It wasn't like David didn't know about gossip around him. Next month he might not be in the leader position, but he wasn't worried. A few talk could convince them again. There was no one else who wanted to step up and carry the burden for them. Too much works and responsibilities. But he liked it; he liked to be in control of situation. Like this time, after they moved out to the shelter, he came with Kyle to check the outer area before dark. He must find Mikey before the night time to ensure that everything was still under control.

"Hey, see anyone?"

Two guards at the gate, Robbie and Mark, glanced at him and shook their heads. Robbie was still young, easy to persuade, Mark was a different story. "Nope."

The curt answer hinted with annoyance. They didn't like to stay in the blizzard and really want the hunt to end. David couldn't blame them. He himself also wanted to capture Mikey again and brought peace to his little hometown.

Suddenly, four men flinched at the scream that was inhuman even to his ears. Alarmed, Robbie swung his gun in every direction. Mark quietly cursed at him and grabbed his shoulder forcibly to stop the young man.

"Did you hear that?" Kyle whispered. He was surprised, too.

"Is that… monster's voice? Goddamnit it's really a monster? This is sick. It sounds like a boy. Like someone tearing its limb off."

 _Ah, yes,_ David thought. _I almost forget he's just a boy._

"We should go to help just in case it got our children." Mark huffed in frustration, gun ready in his hand.

David nodded slowly. "Ah, yeah… Let's go"

"Is it in that house? The sound came from that house." Robbie tried to look at their house where they kept some supplies, but snow and wind kept hitting his face. David sighed. They had to go in any way because of the blizzard.

Kyle was the one who opened the door, and his body stiffened when he saw something inside.

David quickly moved to see what was inside. He heard a gasp, then the sight of the green creature wearing dirty cloak appeared in front of him. He didn't expect to find him so soon.

Mikey was crouching on the floor, hand reached out to grab medicine bottles before him, some were broken. The grey cloak covered most of his body, or he should call his shell. Mikey was unarmed, well, not entirely. David saw the weird sword and two wooden sticks that killed James hung on his waist. While the others were shocked, seeing the inhuman boy for the first time, David saw that Mikey's arms covered in small cuts, the biggest wound was under the cloak so he could only saw the trail of red on his left arm.

He knew that his name was Michelangelo, he saw him fight fiercely and finish the infecteds with no sweats. He knew Mikey wasn't a normal kid. He thought they would run the dog into a corner, and then the dog turned at bay. It wouldn't easy.

But when he looked into Mikey's eyes. He couldn't help but grin.

Ah. He knew he was going to win.


	24. Winter: Chapter 24

**Warning:** Everything?

 **Author's note:** It took a long time since I need to jump off the cliff many times to visit the darker side of myself, and here it is.

Again, some conversations are from LoU script.

* * *

 _He was curious, as usual._

 _Aaaand he happened to know the best turtle who was willing to give an answer (or he would bug him until he got what he wants anyway)._

 _He was cooking (or trying to) because Splinter was busy educating Raph and Leo not to destroy training weapon in the dojo. Cooking wasn't that hard. He didn't even need a stove because, well, it was like instant meal? Who really wanted boiled algae? Boiled or not, the taste was the same, and to him it was perfect._

 _But this time Donnie insisted it should be boiled, or in his word, "pasteurize", which made no sense to him but well, if Donnie wanted it that way he would try it. Donnie told him do not eat raw food or he would get sick, but he ate it and it was okay. It was fine!_

 _"Hey D-D."_

 _"First of all, don't call me like that. It's too girly," Donnie said without looking at him; he was busy reading, again. Ugh. "and second, don't swing a ladle like that. I like my book and table clean, okay?"_

 _Mikey shrugged, putting the ladle back into the pot. "Okay D. Can I ask a question?"_

 _"About what?"_

 _He tapped his chin, pretending to think since it made him look less a fool. "You know, Algae is green..."_

 _Donnie closed his book and turned full attention to him. "Wait. I'm not going to regret whatever I have to answer to you, right? I told you it must be boiled before eating."_

 _"Have some faith, D! This is important! I'm just curious..." Mikey said cheekily. He even tapped his chin and his brother still didn't take him seriously. Oh well. All joking aside, Mikey cleared his throat, hoping his question would be acceptable. "We have green skin too. Do we eat green things to stay green?"_

 _He was failed to convince Donnie somehow because his brother gave him a blank look and answered in bored tone. "Is that metaphorical question?"_

 _"Huh?"_

 _Donnie sighed. Apparently he was used to Mikey's silly question and didn't mind to answer, as long as Mikey's willing to listen. "Well then, no Mikey, we don't need to eat chlorophyll-containing organisms to have green skin. Besides, I know sometimes you consume rotten stuff that aren't in green color, or used to be green, and yet you're still green turtle."_

 _Ooooh, that made sense but… "But my skin is lighter than yours. Because I ate other things?"_

 _"That's not how it works." Donnie raised his eye ridge. "Why don't you tell me where did you get that idea? Saw it on TV?"_

 _"Um, umm, kinda." Mikey scratched the back of his head, totally forgot to act cool. "It's a commercial saying you are what you eat. People above don't eat this everyday like us. They have sooooooo many things to cook." Mikey glanced at the pot and sighed dramatically. "If we have food like them maybe we'll change? To be or not to be turtle?"_

 _"'You are what you eat'? Hmm… yeah I saw it a few times." Donnie crossed his arms, thinking. Then he grinned. "Don't take it literally. We don't eat algae to be turtle. If you eat cockroach then you'll turn into one? "_

 _He gulped. "Raph'll hate me..."_

 _"I'm joking, little bro" Donnie laughed, before turned into one of his science-thingy mode, which usually meant he was serious. "You are not what you eat. You are what your body is capable of digesting. What you eat doesn't change what you are. Well, physically it does, but that's just it."_

 _Mikey nodded as he began to understand it. So he could eat everything he wanted. Everything. But before he opened his mouth to reply, Donnie continued._

 _"But I suggest we boil algae soup before we eat so I don't have severe diarrhea like last week."_

 _"But it tastes terrible! And the soup's thick!"_

 _The bickering continued until Master Splinter came in, and they had algae soup for the first time._

 _He must admit it; it didn't taste as bad as he thought..._

* * *

Their eyes met for a millisecond, then hell broke loose.

 **"Shoot him!"**

One of them shouted as the turtle moved away. The sickle flew fast but the aim was poor since the blade missed his face by a mile. Something wasn't right. David had witnessed how Mikey fought before. His attack was vigorous, swift, and never miss the target.

 _Maybe he's injured. Or better, he's afraid._

But his prey was still too fast. He lost the sight of him, but he heard a cracking noise somewhere behind the counter. His prey was hiding.

David covered his face when a purple smoke bomb flown at them. They coughed and curse for a few moment. Mark was the first one to recover. "Damn. That creature's full of shitty tricks."

 _Don't worry. He's just a kid._ David thought, _And he's afraid of us._

The light from candles gave them some advantage. David could see the shadow moved behind the tables, though he didn't hear anything. Mark and Robbie went to the left, trying to block the exit.

"I know you're in there." David said, loud enough for all of them to hear.

They looked at him questionably, but David signaled them to continue the hunt while he was taunting his prey. He was very good at manipulating the young one to do what he wanted. He would use his gift to bring his prey out.

"You're easy to track. So what now? You're goin' to hide in there forever?"

David paused for a moment, scanning the entire room to find any movement. His shoe caught a broken glass bottle on the floor where his prey was a few minutes ago. Then he came to realization. David grinned.

 _Michelangelo was afraid_ , _and truly lost._

"Oh, hey, the medicine. I'm sorry I forgot. I truly am. Who's he, or she? Must be your family, otherwise you don't be so determined to get it." He swabbed the glass pieces out of his way with his foot. Children were so easy to deceive; they were so naive, always believed everything he said. Family, safety, food, all that he could offer to make them come with him. It was always easy.

"Ah, you don't have to worry about your family. We'll take care of them. 'Cause we'll find them for you. Let them join with you, only after we finished what to do with you. I hope you take comfort in knowing we won't waste any part of them."

Suddenly, he heard a sharp intake on the right. Michelangelo easily fell into his trap. Kyle didn't miss it and started shooting again. His prey scrambled from the hiding place and ran out to another room. David could only see a glimpse of his grey cloak.

Mark said in the low voice. "That room's dead-end."

David gestured them to go inside. Robbie pushed the door open with his gun, taking a careful step into the room full of lighted candles, then he saw the tail of grey cloak lying on the floor behind the table. He swallowed and walked closer to take an aim.

"-fuck!"

He turned, and the first thing he saw was a lighted molotov threw at him from another direction, Mark yelled to warn his friend but it was too late. The bottle hit Robbie's face and he was immediately caught on fire. The man screamed and tried his best to run out to the snow. David and Kyle couldn't see the target, but that didn't stop them from shooting madly and hoping they would hit something. Mark ran to yank the cloak, but the piece of cloth was just a bait. The turtle was gone. David saw the row of candles fell as the moving shadow hit the table. At the corner of his eyes, he saw it ran out. He must admit, the cornered dog, no, the cornered turtle was still cunning even though it was outnumbered. Annoyed that he was tricked, David ran after it. Kyle and Mark were coming after him. Then he heard the explosion.

He should have known that the dead-end room usually used as the weapon rack. There were molotov and bombs inside, and the guard was probably too busy to check if the candles had been put out before going out, so it was only the matter of time. But what made him angry was that Michelangelo lured them into the room and tried to kill them! His head was still ringing, and his body refused to follow his command, so he just lied for a short while waiting.

But maybe he was wrong. As he pushed himself up, he looked back and only saw Kyle and Mark in the burning room, not moving. He turned to look at the open door outside. The body of Robbie was still burning, presumably dead. Not far from him, he heard a groan from the slumping green shell. It looked like Michelangelo didn't plan this explosion beforehand and was lucky that he got out of the room in time.

 _Gosh, this kid's such a trouble..._

The entire cabin caught on fire. He saw the fire already went to the walls and ceiling. He had to act fast. Pushing his headache aside, David caught his ankle and his prey yelped. He quickly crawls on top of him, punching and pinning him down.

"Fuck! I...I wish you hadn't killed them. All those people you killed. It's just gonna make our group stronger. Fewer mouths to feed. Stronger survivors!"

He was going to hit again when his prey threw a weird chain-stick at him. David blocked with his arm, he couldn't help but scream as he felt like his arm was broken. Like adding fuel to the fire, he backhanded him hard and got up to kick him in the ribs. His prey cried out.

"S-Stop!"

He didn't. He went through all troubles just to keep his pet here, and now his pet turned out on him, killing his own men, so David had a right to be furious. He kicked and stomped and beat down the creature until he knocked his prey unconscious, lying still on the floor.

He felt like he was beating it forever until he was satisfied. David panted as he used his good arm to grab the gun and aimed at his pet's head.

"I know you're not infected. No one who's infected fights this hard to stay alive." David kicked his pet's arm to see the bite mark. It looked real, but then again, Michelangelo probably got bitten by something else. Yes, he remembered he was deceived by the bite mark. Whether it's real or not, it didn't matter anymore. "I gotta admit, you had me back there. For a second, but only for a second. Ha!"

Time to put this pitiful creature out of misery.

"I promise to be quick. Promise."

The footsteps at the door interrupted him before he could pull a trigger.

At first, he didn't turn, thought it was his comrade came to help him. Hell, he didn't care if Robbie woke up from dead. Of course his people would hear the explosion and come to see what happened. But when he heard a heavy breathing, he glanced back to see who it was. To his surprise, he saw a boy covered in snow leaning against the door. All children were evacuated, he was sure, but when he spent a few moments to look at the mysterious boy he saw the familiar green skin, bald head, and dark blue eyes wide.

David tilted his head. This strange creature kept coming to him. The boy looked completely different from Mikey, in fact, this turtle could barely stand. It had to use a weird-looking sword as a cane or else it would fall. Snow covered his head and shoulders, legs shaking, and the wound on his side looked serious. It looked like this turtle was injured before coming here. David thought, _what's the reason for it to walk a long way in this state just to come here?_

Then he remembered another turtle lying on the floor behind him. It didn't take long to make an assumption. David grinned.

"Ah… What do we have here?" He said with arms open as if to welcome the new turtle. "Another one?"

He couldn't tell if the turtle was still in shock to see him and his prey on the floor, or see the whole building was burning, or both. But when he spoke, it turned his head to face him, trying to be intimidated even in the worst shape. That made his grin even wider. So Michelangelo trade with him to get the medicine… for this turtle?

But when the turtle saw what behind him, it gasped in horror at the sight of another turtle lying still, not moving. David was pleased to see that he hit hard enough to take Mikey down for once (seriously, turtle was supposed to be slow, not jumping around like a rabbit). The turtle tried to call out, but his voice was too hoarse. David stared as it took a pathetic step, hand reaching out for the one on the floor. It was such a heartbreaking scene, but he didn't want to be a part of it. He was sick of their existences and didn't want any of them in his town anymore.

He kicked Michelangelo hard, and the turtle's head snapped back at him.

"You come this far for a little one? Here he is." David sneered. "I'll make sure you both stay here, forever."

An enraged fire radiated from the turtle, and to its credit, it slowly held the sword up. Without the support, its legs were shaking even more. The whole body was swaying and trembling in pain. This turtle was in the weakest state and David was sure that a single push from him would be enough to kill it. He knew that such an intelligent creature was aware that it couldn't win.

But it didn't back down. He saw a fury fire in those blue wide eyes. It was so different from his prey. This turtle took a hell trip through the blizzard to come here, and despite its injury, it still wanted to fight.

Ah, how he loved to extinguish that fire in the boys...

The excitement from the past conceived from the depth inside. Yes, if they were human, he would enjoy every last bit of them until he threw them away. Taking pleasure from the youth was like drinking from Holy Grail that extended his life in this wasted world. It was the only joy he could get from this world. David suppressed that feeling, telling himself he had to kill them eventually.

"You..."

Finally, it spoke, breaking his train of thoughts in process. Its voice came out as a hoarse whisper, more mature than his prey.

"What did you do…?"

It sounded intimidated, seeping with anger. David chuckled, _Like I have to explain to you._ Instead, he raised his gun and pointed at its head, making it as quick as possible so he would go back to his group and tell them the nightmare was over. Those creatures were dead, and they would live to fight another day. The turtle startled at his action but it didn't fail to point the blade back at him. If it wasn't injured, it might have a chance, but David knew it couldn't even handle the weight of the sword because now he saw its entire arms were shaking visibly.

His attention was completely on the fragile turtle in front of him that he forgot another one on the floor.

He heard Michelangelo groaned, and then a whisper calling a name.

"Leo?"

Damn, he was certain he hit it hard for good. He didn't think it would wake up so soon.

But he didn't have a chance to look down at Michelangelo as he felt as if a lightning strike hit the entire body, then his vision turned upside down. He fell hard, head hitting the floor and gasping for air, the flame on the ceiling greeted him. He heard a ringing noise mixing with a shout.

 **"Don't touch him!"**

He couldn't believe the turtle he shot and hit several times, dropped dead at his feet a moment ago, was turned into an angry ball of flame and exploded right at his face. David was wriggling, making a gurgling sound because he felt like his lungs were cut off and he couldn't breathe. He shot him, but once again Michelangelo turned into a green blur. He tried to get up and untangled himself from the chains, but his prey stomped on his chest and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Don't touch him! **Don't touch him!** Don't you dare touch him! _Kono yarou!_ "

He shot again, but it was terrible aim. Then someone wrestled his gun away. Something sharp hit his face and he screamed, then his world was no more.

* * *

Mikey was going to shut down himself because it hurt too much to stay awake. David surely did a number on him that he couldn't even open his eyes. Then he heard a familiar voice.

"What did you do…?"

He heard David chuckled, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw the gun pointed at someone at the door. Mikey tilted his head to get a better look, and his mouth hung in shock.

"Leo?"

Leo was here. His brother looked terrible but he was here. Mikey wasted no time to get up. Leo was awake, finally! But then he realized David was aiming at his big brother, he felt his blood runs cold.

 _No, no, no! He's gonna kill Leo!?_

 _I-I can't lose him again!_

Something inside him snapped, and the full blast of wrath flooded in from somewhere in the back of his mind.

 _He lied to me. He tried to kill me! Lying! Human lied to me! He tried to kill Leo!_

Kusarigama responded fast as if it was a part of his mind. As his weapon transformed, He threw the chains to wrap around David's neck and yanked it hard enough to take the full-grown adult down on the floor.

 **"Don't touch him!"**

David snared. Even if he was strangled on the floor, he still tried to shoot him. The sound of bullet ringing near his ears made him even more violent. He went Raph-out, stomping on the man's chest and was going into berserk mode. He hit the man hard enough to crack his skull.

"Don't touch him! **Don't touch him!** Don't you dare touch him! _Kono yarou!_ "

But David was still fighting him. This disgusting human was so persistent on stay alive. Then Mikey felt the Kusarigama wasn't enough, so he reached for the katana at his waist.

David screamed in pain as he first planted the man's face with the katana. Fresh torn apart, blood splashed everywhere, he would hack his face open until David stopped. The katana wasn't the best weapon for slashing since it was made for stabbing, but at this point he didn't care. He just wanted David to stop… stop squirming, stop screaming, so he couldn't hurt Leo. He would make sure David couldn't get up and hurt anyone again. He hacked and slashed repeatedly because he was afraid that if he stopped, David would get up again.

"-key! Mikey! Stop!"

 _No! I can't! I won't! I… I..._

He felt someone walked pass him and then another katana pierced through David's throat. Mikey flinched at the gurgling sound. Blood bubbled out from the stab wound.

Suddenly, his world stopped spinning. Mikey began to feel his pains back; he was hurt, tired, drained. The katana in his hand weighed like a ton and he couldn't lift it up anymore.

He slowly turned his head to his big brother, feeling like he was seeing him for the first time. Leo's eyes were narrowed, rigid, and burned with cool hatred. Then his brother pulled the katana back, leaving blood trails on the body beneath him.

"He's dead, Mikey." Leo said quietly.

He didn't know why Leo needed to state the obvious. Of course he was dead, and if he wasn't Mikey was going to make sure he stayed dead. Maybe he needed it. He needed Leo's confirmation that David was really gone so he could stop.

Mikey looked down at the bloodbath under him. Strangely, he felt numb. He couldn't feel anything at all. He didn't even know that he already dropped the katana and Kusarigama. Then he flinched when Leo tapped his shoulder, he turned to look at him in the eyes, not caring if Leo would saw blood smeared on his face.

 _"Kuwareru…"_

The word came out. Leo frowned when he heard it because it didn't make sense but he didn't give a comment. There must be a reason behind this madness. He was wisely waiting for his little brother to calm down.

Then Mikey whispered the same words over and over.

 _"Kuwareru…_ _tasukete nii-san…"_

"…Mikey, come here..." Leo embraced him, wincing a little when Mikey touched his wound unconsciously. He silently patted his back and soothed him. " _Ochitsuite_..."

They said no more. Leo wouldn't move an inch until his little brother's nightmare was gone.

* * *

 **Note:** Kuwareru = (He) is going to eat me, (I'm) going to be eaten.

Kono yarou = You bastard!

Nii-san = Big brother.

Ochitsuite = It's okay.


End file.
